--- title: Does progesterone affect women's anxiety across the menstrual cycle? description: Yes. Women with higher average progesterone reported higher anxiety, and anxiety increased as progesterone rose during the cycle. Both studies showed this lin url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/progesterone-and-women-s-anxiety-across-the-menstrual-cycle-2018/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Does progesterone affect women's anxiety across the menstrual cycle? Cohort study, 2018 # Does progesterone affect women's anxiety across the menstrual cycle? Yes. Women with higher average progesterone reported higher anxiety, and anxiety increased as progesterone rose during the cycle. Both studies showed this link. Moderate study design 100 Polish women and 61 American women ## What they did Two studies examined the link between progesterone and anxiety. Study 1: 100 Polish women gave saliva samples and reported anxiety at three cycle phases. Study 2: 61 American women gave saliva samples and reported attachment anxiety at the same three phases. ## What they found In Study 1, women with higher average progesterone across their cycles reported higher anxiety levels. In Study 2, women with higher average progesterone reported higher attachment anxiety, and as progesterone increased during the cycle, anxiety increased. Both effects remained significant when controlling for other hormones. ## What it means for you Progesterone appears linked to anxiety in women across the cycle. The main limitation is these are observational studies, so we cannot prove progesterone causes the anxiety. 100 Polish women in Study 1 61 American women in Study 2 3 cycle phases measured ## About the study Original title Progesterone and women's anxiety across the menstrual cycle Authors Reynolds TA, Makhanova A, Marcinkowska UM et al. Journal Hormones and behavior Year 2018 Study design Cohort study Participants 100 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.04.008](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.04.008) ## Topics [Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/) 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. ## Related studies Cohort study, 2025 How common is PMS in Chinese teenage girls, and what factors are linked to it? Randomised trial, 2017 Does the combined oral contraceptive pill affect mood? Randomised trial, 1995 Does fluoxetine help premenstrual dysphoria? Study, 2026 What are premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder? Study, 2025 Does anger get worse before your period? Survey study, 2021 What factors affect premenstrual syndrome in teenage girls? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗