How your menstrual cycle can impact your mental and physical health

While there is certainly evidence that sex hormones do positively (and negatively) impact women’s brains, the historical lack of women’s health research means there is a lot of catching up to do in this area

Dr Máire Finn: ‘The pill suits some women and is horrible for others.’ Picture: Ray Ryan

Thursday, September 1, 1983, is a date that has stuck in my memory for two reasons: it was (a) my first day of secondary school and (b) the day my first period chose to arrive. On the face of it, disastrous timing, but rather than crumble, I coped, happily powering through the day.

Could it be possible that my period helped rather than hindered me? Did the flood of oestrogen fire up my brain? Could those hormones have upped my happiness?