PMT may all be a myth, a scientists has dared to admit
Ladies, take a deep breath. According to a scientist, PMT may be a myth.
Dr Sarah Romans’s analysis of dozens of studies from around the world found evidence for pre-menstrual mood swings to be tenuous.
She said many of the studies found no proof that woman’s mood fluctuates over the course of the month.
Others found females to be moodiest at a time other than when their period was due.
Her findings are in sharp contrast to the general belief that almost all women of reproductive age experience irritability and other symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome in the run-up to their period.
Dr Romans said that while the psychological symptoms can be real, they may be due to stress and lack of support, rather than fluctuating hormones.
In other cases, women may simply expect to feel out-of-sorts at that time of the month.
Dr Romans, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, said: ‘The human menstrual cycle has historically been the focus of myth and misunderstanding, leading to ideas that constrain women’s activities.’
She crunched together 47 studies dating from 1971 to 2007 and looked for evidence for mood-swings in the days before a woman’s period. Just 15 per cent of the studies found indication of this.
Another 38 per cent found mood-swings did occur then but also at other times.
In many cases, this involved their irritability continuing into their actual period. Although this didn’t satisfy the researchers’ definition of PMT, others would say it does fit the bill.
Sarah Romans said she is sceptical that emotionality in women should be first linked to their reproductive function
In 38 per cent of the studies, there was no evidence of mood-swings at any time of the month. And in 9 per cent, the women were moodiest at a time unconnected to their period, the journal Gender Medicine reports.
Dr Romans, who didn’t look at the evidence for physical symptoms of PMT such as bloating, said: ‘Taken together, these studies failed to provide clear evidence in support of the existence of a specific pre-menstrual negative mood syndrome in the general population.
This puzzlingly widespread belief needs challenging, as it perpetuates negative concepts leading female reproduction with negative emotionality.’
She added that researchers have been able to trick women into thinking they are suffering from PMT by lying to them about when their period is due to start. In other cases, psychological symptoms may be real but their biology is not to blame.
Dr Romans said: ‘When a woman’s upset, it’s still often one of the first thoughts people have – maybe she’s premenstrual – rather than “Is her physical health bad? Is she under a lot of stress? Is she lacking social support?”
‘The idea that any emotionality in women can be firstly attributed to their reproductive function ... we’re sceptical about that.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2222787/PMT-mind-says-woman-researcher.html#ixzz2AKEGAfnv
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