In addition to the impacts on your lower back, your sex drive, your appetite and your patience, researchers at Concordia University are looking into whether your period may also affect your ability to read a map. New research on hormones and memory by Dema Hussain and Wayne Brake found that women in the pre-menstrual phase of their cycle were more skilled at spatial navigation, while ovulating women were found to score higher on verbal memory tests.
“Our research shows that, rather than impairing memory in general, estrogen and progesterone may instead cause the brain to favour one memory system or strategy over another,” said Brake.
The key takeaway of the 45-participant study [Ed. note: that's small] is that your cycle may influence how you solve problems, recall words and, potentially, how you plan your route home. Maybe a better question for science: Is there anything your cycle can't do?
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