--- title: Do women with severe PMS have poor sleep quality? | Niyora description: Women with severe PMS feel like they sleep poorly before menstruation, but measurements of their actual sleep don't show this. How they feel about sleep is st url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/perceived-poor-sleep-quality-in-the-absence-of-polysomnographic-sleep-2012/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women with severe PMS have poor sleep quality? Study, 2012 # Do women with severe PMS have poor sleep quality? Women with severe PMS feel like they sleep poorly before menstruation, but measurements of their actual sleep don't show this. How they feel about sleep is strongly linked to anxiety. Moderate study design 18 women with severe PMS (average age 30.5 years) and 18 women without severe symptoms (average age 29.2 years) ## What they did 18 women with severe PMS and 18 controls without symptoms had overnight sleep recordings during two phases of their menstrual cycle: once in the first half and once in the few days before menstruation. Recordings measured both what the women reported about their sleep and objective measurements including brain activity. ## What they found Women with severe PMS reported worse sleep quality before menstruation compared to earlier in the cycle, but objective sleep measurements didn't show differences. Women with PMS had more slow-wave sleep than controls at both times of the cycle. Anxiety had a strong relationship with how poorly they felt their sleep was. ## What it means for you Women with severe PMS feel like their sleep is worse before menstruation, possibly because of anxiety, even though their actual sleep may be normal. The study recorded only one night in each cycle phase and included a small number of participants, so more research is needed. 18 women in each group 30.5 years average age of PMS group 29.2 years average age of control group ## About the study Original title Perceived poor sleep quality in the absence of polysomnographic sleep disturbance in women with severe premenstrual syndrome Authors Baker FC, Sassoon SA, Kahan T et al. Journal Journal of sleep research Year 2012 Study design Study Participants 18 Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01007.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01007.x) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Sleep and insomnia](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-sleep/)[Fatigue and energy](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-fatigue/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Survey study, 2022 What factors are associated with irregular menstrual cycles and how do irregular cycles affect other symptoms? Study, 2022 Does having COVID-19 affect premenstrual syndrome symptoms? Survey study, 2025 How do personality traits like neuroticism affect PMS severity and sexual satisfaction? Cohort study, 2024 How does sleep change across your menstrual cycle? Survey study, 2024 Are menstrual cycle symptoms related to sleep problems and mental health in female athletes? Randomised trial, 2020 Does progesterone therapy help premenstrual syndrome in women with PCOS? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗