Women are better athletes when they’re menstruating, showing sharper response times and better cognitive function.
Regularly menstruating females performed better during menstruation compared to being in any other phase, with faster reaction times [and] fewer errors,” the study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia, says.
The study specifically looked at both male and female soccer players and found that “performance on the cognitive tasks, most notably for spatial timing anticipation, was better during the menstrual phase and worse during the luteal phase,” which is the time right before menstruation starts, the Cleveland Clinic explains.
What is surprising is that the participants’ performance was better when they were on their period, which challenges what women, and perhaps society more generally, assume about their abilities at this particular time of the month,” Dr. Flaminia Ronca, the lead author of the study, from UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said, according to The Guardian.
For one of the tests, study participants were shown a series of smiling or winking faces, and told to press the space bar whenever they saw a smiling face — a test meant to measure skills like attention, reaction time and accuracy.
When menstruating, they hit the space bar at the wrong time 25% less, a statement from the University College London explained.
And as for how they performed right before menstruation, Dr Megan Lowery, an author of the study from UCL Surgery and Interventional Science and ISEH, said, “There’s lots of anecdotal evidence from women that they might feel clumsy just before ovulation, for example, which is supported by our findings here.”
In fact, the study was inspired by soccer players reporting injuries during specific times in their cycle, as one study found “Injury risk was significantly elevated during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle … among elite female professional footballers.”
However, while women might report that they don’t feel well when they have their period, the soccer players in the study did perform better during menstruation.
As the study says, “Females reported lower wellbeing scores during menstruation, where they also perceived their cognitive performance was negatively affected. In contrast to this, performance on the cognitive tasks, most notably for spatial timing anticipation, was better during the menstrual phase and worse during the luteal phase.”
“I hope that this will provide the basis for positive conversations between coaches and athletes about perceptions and performance,” Ronca said. “How we feel doesn’t always reflect how we perform.”
