Survey study, 2017
Does your menstrual phase affect how well you remember things after sleep?
Women remembered faces and names better than men before a nap. After the nap, women forgot more during their period week than during other times of their cycle.
What they did
17 women were tested at two different times in their cycle (around their period and at other times, 2 weeks apart) and compared with 18 men. All participants learned to match faces with names, took a daytime nap, then were tested again. Brain waves were recorded during the nap.
What they found
Women had better memory before the nap than men, regardless of cycle phase. After the nap, women in their period week (5 days before to 6 days after period start) forgot more than women in other cycle phases. Men did not show this pattern. The brain wave patterns during sleep that linked to memory improvement were different for women depending on cycle phase.
What it means for you
Your menstrual cycle may affect how sleep helps you remember things, especially around your period. The main limitation is this was a small lab study with a specific memory task, so results may not apply to everyday memory.
17
women studied
18
men studied
2 weeks
time between cycle phase tests
About the study
- Original title
- The effect of sex and menstrual phase on memory formation during a nap
- Authors
- Sattari N, McDevitt EA, Panas D et al.
- Journal
- Neurobiology of learning and memory
- Year
- 2017
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None—observational study of memory during different cycle phases
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2017.09.007
Topics
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