Menstrual Cycle Timing May Affect Academic Performance

Menstrual cycles have a profound impact on a woman's life. For many women, without regard to age, the physiological complications of the menstrual cycle often lead to development of secondary psychological and emotional complications. The combination of both physical and psychological health issues can impair judgment and cognitive processing.

For some women, the menstrual cycle can bring about a time that may actually serve to improve mood and mental processing. While some women may experience complications of memory loss with the menstrual cycle, there are increasingly more women who actually benefit, intellectually and emotionally from their cycles.

In fact, if you are a woman who works in a profession where acute cognitive function is important, or you attend school and need to prepare for a test, such as the SAT, ACT or a major final exam, your menstrual cycle may impact your performance. Because estrogen plays a significant role in the memory and cognitive processing, there may be marked improvement in your symptoms during peak estrogen levels associated with your menstrual cycle.

How does estrogen impact your memory and cognitive processing? Little is known about the exact biochemical process estrogen plays upon your brain function. However, for most women, when estrogen levels are at their peak, there does seem to be a significant increase in not only mental processing but also in the use of language and speech with many women reporting a more acute ability to handle verbal tasks and abstract reasoning.

If you are preparing for an academic test, or anticipate an important period in your work environment, your gynecologist or other healthcare professional, may be able to provide some improvement with the use of estrogen therapy. With a boost in estrogen levels, women have been shown to experience an increase in blood flow specifically to the areas of the brain that are responsible for memory and verbal recognition and may, ultimately, perform better at school or on the job.