Cravings during your period: why it happens

Cravings during your period are common, and they have a physical cause, not a lack of willpower. In the days around your period, estrogen and progesterone drop sharply. That shift affects serotonin, the brain chemical tied to both mood and appetite, and can push you toward carbohydrates and fat.

One study found that women with PMDD wanted fatty foods more in the days before their period than afterward; desire for carbohydrates alone didn't shift the same way [1]. A separate study of college women found a specific pull toward chocolate during menstrual flow itself, stronger than at any other point in the cycle [2].

Low-grade inflammation may add to the picture. Research tracking 259 women across two cycles found certain inflammatory markers in the blood were linked to moderate or severe cravings at different cycle points, even after accounting for hormone levels and stress [5]. Hormones, brain chemistry and inflammation can all be pulling in the same direction at once, which is why the pull can feel hard to override with willpower alone.

For most people, cravings build in the day or two before bleeding starts and ease once the period gets underway or within a few days after. The college-student study found cravings for chocolate were highest during menstrual flow itself, higher than at any other point in the cycle, including the days just before it [2].

If your cravings show up well before your period even starts, cravings in the luteal phase cover that earlier window, and cravings before your period go into more detail on timing.

If cravings stay intense for most of the month rather than easing after your period, that's a different pattern, and it points to something other than the usual cycle-linked craving most women describe.

PMS can include food cravings alongside physical and emotional symptoms in the one to two weeks before your period, all of which usually ease once bleeding starts. A trial of 70 women with PMS who took up regular swimming found it eased anxiety, depression, tension and mood changes, but made no measurable difference to food cravings, irritability, crying or insomnia [4]. That split suggests cravings don't move in lockstep with the mood side of PMS. They follow their own pattern.

PMDD is a separate diagnosis. It needs at least five symptoms, including one mood symptom such as irritability, low mood or anxiety, in the final week before your period, confirmed by daily ratings over at least two cycles. Food cravings are a recognized symptom, but the mood change is what the diagnosis rests on. Start with what you're feeling if you're not sure which pattern fits. If cravings show up alongside rage, despair or anxiety that feels out of character, PMDD cravings covers how that overlap can look.

A few things that help while the craving is loud:

• Eat something with protein or fiber first, like yogurt or a handful of nuts, then decide if you still want the craving.
• Have a smaller portion of the food you're craving instead of skipping it. One study found restrained eaters given a sedative sometimes used for PMS and PMDD symptoms ate 26% more calories premenstrually than on placebo, so white-knuckling through a craving isn't a given win [1].
• Drink a full glass of water first. Dehydration can feel a lot like hunger.
• Move, even briefly. Exercise won't stop the craving itself, but it can ease the anxiety and tension that often ride alongside it [4].

For a longer-term approach to eating around your cycle, see diet for cravings during your period. If the craving is tangled up with frustration at yourself or a slide toward eating past full, the urge to binge covers what to do in that moment specifically.

If what's loud right now is less about food and more about a feeling you can't shake, Niyora is a PMS and PMDD support app. Its Moon feature lets you write down what's going on, see it from a calmer angle, and decide what you actually want to do next instead of acting on the feeling.

Cravings on their own, even strong ones, aren't usually a medical problem. They tend to matter more when they're one symptom among several that show up every month and interfere with work, relationships or sleep. A few cycles of tracking symptoms alongside your period cravings, mood and energy can show whether there's a steady PMS pattern, a more disruptive one that fits PMDD, or something unrelated to your cycle altogether.

The pattern shows up across several small studies. In the 1987 study of 83 college women, chocolate cravings rose specifically during menstrual flow, while cravings for high-sugar or high-starch foods didn't move with cycle phase [2]. A smaller 2018 study of 27 nutrition students found food cravings differed between the follicular and luteal phases, though actual food intake and body measurements didn't change [3].

The 1999 trial on women with PMDD found fat cravings rose premenstrually, and that restrained eaters given a benzodiazepine sometimes used for PMDD symptoms ate up to 26% more calories premenstrually than on placebo [1]. More recent work looking at inflammation in 259 women over two cycles found certain immune markers tracked with craving severity independent of hormones and stress, which points toward inflammation as another piece of the puzzle rather than hormones acting alone [5].

None of this is settled science. The sample sizes are small, and researchers still don't agree on exactly how much is hormonal, how much is inflammatory and how much is simply the food environment around your period. What's consistent is that the craving itself is real and documented, even if the full mechanism isn't.