--- title: How do rumination and awareness affect mood and stress hormones during the menstrual cycle in PMDD? description: In women with PMDD, being aware of the present moment and thinking less about negative things predicted better mood during the premenstrual phase. Women with url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/state-and-trait-cognitions-differentially-affect-cyclicity-of-mood-and-cortisol-2023/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - How do rumination and awareness affect mood and stress hormones during the menstrual cycle in PMDD? Survey study, 2023 # How do rumination and awareness affect mood and stress hormones during the menstrual cycle in PMDD? In women with PMDD, being aware of the present moment and thinking less about negative things predicted better mood during the premenstrual phase. Women with PMDD also lacked the normal stress hormone pattern that healthy women show, which may be a biological marker of PMDD. Moderate study design 60 women with PMDD and 60 healthy women ## What they did 60 women with PMDD and 60 healthy women completed questionnaires about their habitual thinking patterns. Then over 4 consecutive days during their follicular phase and 4 days during their late-luteal (premenstrual) phase, they tracked momentary rumination, present-moment awareness, mood, and stress hormone levels. ## What they found Women with PMDD experienced mood worsening during the late-luteal phase without the typical stress hormone reduction that healthy women showed. In women with PMDD, lower habitual rumination and higher awareness only predicted better mood during the follicular phase, while lower momentary rumination and higher awareness predicted better mood during the late-luteal phase. In healthy women, lower momentary rumination and higher awareness predicted stronger stress hormone reduction toward the late-luteal phase. ## What it means for you Women with PMDD might benefit from brief, targeted interventions focused on their moment-to-moment thoughts and awareness during the premenstrual phase. The absence of normal stress hormone cycling in PMDD could help doctors identify who has this condition. A main limitation is that mood and hormones were only measured over 4 days per phase. 60 women with PMDD 60 healthy controls 4 consecutive days assessed per phase ## About the study Original title State and trait cognitions differentially affect cyclicity of mood and cortisol in women with and without Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Authors Nayman S, Schricker IF, Reinhard I et al. Journal PsyArXiv Year 2023 Study design Survey study Participants 60 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/953b8](https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/953b8) Original abstract Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is characterized by a cyclical symptom course. Previous research provides limited findings on possible menstrual-cycle-related psychological and psychoen-docrinological processes in PMDD. By using Ambulatory Assessment (AA), we aimed to compare mood and cortisol cyclicity in women with PMDD and healthy controls (HC), and to assess effects of habitual and momentary repetitive-negative-thinking (RNT) and present-moment-awareness (PMA) on mood and cortisol across the cycle in both groups. Women with PMDD and HCs (n = 60 each) completed baseline questionnaires on habitual RNT and PMA. Momentary rumination and PMA, positive and negative affect, and saliva-cortisol were assessed over four consecutive days during both the follicular and the late-luteal phase. Women with PMDD showed mood cyclicity indi-cating mood worsening while HCs showed cortisol cyclicity indicating decreasing cortisol levels to-ward the late-luteal phase. In women with PMDD, lower habitual RNT and higher habitual PMA predicted better mood only during the follicular phase whereas lower momentary rumination and higher momentary PMA predicted better mood during the late-luteal phase. No effects on cortisol activity were found. In HCs, higher habitual PMA predicted lower negative affect during the late-luteal phase whereas lower momentary rumination and higher momentary PMA predicted strong-er cortisol reduction toward the late-luteal phase. While favorable habitual cognitions might not protect women with PMDD against premenstrual mood deterioration, respective momentary cog-nitions may reflect possible protective factors, suggesting an opportunity for micro-interventions to directly target late-luteal-phase-specific state processes in affected women. The lack of cortisol cyclicity might represent an endocrinological marker for PMDD. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pmdd/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/) 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 Cohort study, 2025 Is the stress hormone cortisol different in women with PMDD? Survey study, 2024 Does thinking style affect mood through the menstrual cycle in people with PMDD? Case-control study, 2023 Do emotion regulation strategies help women with PMDD manage mood and stress hormones? Cohort study, 2022 What are PMS and PMDD and how should they be diagnosed and treated? Cohort study, 2026 Does brain structure differ between women with PMDD and healthy controls? Study, 2022 Is there higher DNA damage from oxidative stress before your period if you have PMS or PMDD? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗