---
title: How do premenstrual symptoms change throughout the menstrual cycle?
description: Premenstrual symptoms fall into six different groups: emotional, thinking, relationship, pain, and body changes. Each group follows its own pattern through th
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/using-natural-spline-models-to-explore-the-trajectories-of-empirically-derived-2025/
---

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- How do premenstrual symptoms change throughout the menstrual cycle?

Study, 2025

# How do premenstrual symptoms change throughout the menstrual cycle?

Premenstrual symptoms fall into six different groups: emotional, thinking, relationship, pain, and body changes. Each group follows its own pattern through the cycle. Body symptoms change most sharply and quickly, while emotional and relationship symptoms stay milder throughout.

 Moderate study design

85 female university students with regular cycles, not using hormonal birth control

## What they did

85 female university students who weren't taking hormonal birth control and had regular periods completed an electronic daily diary for 4 months. The researchers looked at how symptoms varied together and how each type of symptom changed through the cycle.

## What they found

Six symptom domains were identified that tend to occur together: emotional, thinking, relationship, pain, and body symptoms. Body symptoms increased and decreased most sharply and quickly compared to other symptoms. Emotional and relationship symptoms stayed milder throughout the cycle.

## What it means for you

Premenstrual symptoms don't all change in the same way. Body symptoms appear and disappear quickly, while emotional symptoms stay more constant. This suggests that different types of symptoms may need different treatments or explanations. The study only looked at women not on birth control, so we don't know if birth control affects these patterns.

85

female students

4

months of tracking

6

symptom groups

## About the study

Original title Using natural spline models to explore the trajectories of empirically derived domains of premenstrual symptoms Authors Baez LM, Heller AS Journal Psychological assessment Year 2025 Study design Study Participants 85 What was tested None - observation of symptom patterns over time Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1037/pas0001356](https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001356)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)

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.

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