---
title: Does PMS affect a woman's ability to concentrate and think clearly?
description: Women with PMS performed just as accurately as women without PMS on thinking and attention tasks during all phases of their cycle. Women with PMS worked more
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/pms-cyclical-variation-in-attentional-capacity-with-pms-and-non-pms-women-2019/
---

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- Does PMS affect a woman's ability to concentrate and think clearly?

Case-control study, 2019

# Does PMS affect a woman's ability to concentrate and think clearly?

Women with PMS performed just as accurately as women without PMS on thinking and attention tasks during all phases of their cycle. Women with PMS worked more slowly on one task but made no more mistakes.

 Early or limited evidence

Women with and without PMS (exact sample size not stated in abstract)

## What they did

Case-control study comparing women with and without PMS over three menstrual cycles. Both groups completed cognitive tests including digit span and letter detection tasks, with measurements of both speed and accuracy.

## What they found

PMS women and non-PMS women achieved equal accuracy on both cognitive tasks regardless of menstrual cycle phase. However, PMS women took longer on the letter detection task overall, though accuracy remained comparable.

## What it means for you

Having PMS does not impair your thinking or decision-making during your PMS phase. You might work at a slower pace on some tasks, but your accuracy stays the same. The study was small with limited detail in the abstract, and focused on lab tasks rather than real-world performance.

3

Menstrual cycles studied

## About the study

Original title PMS: Cyclical variation in attentional capacity with PMS and non-PMS women Authors Francine Linda Greenstein Journal Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno) Year 2019 Study design Case-control study What was tested Cognitive testing across different menstrual cycle phases Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.25669/nkcy-d8g2](https://doi.org/10.25669/nkcy-d8g2)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)

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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