Women's menstrual cycle phase and reproductive stage effect levels of irritability and anger: Study

The menopause transition can take a physical as well as a mental and emotional toll on many women. A new study suggests that emotions such as anger, irritability, and feeling out of control may be more pronounced based on a woman’s menstrual cycle phase and her reproductive age. Results of the study are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society.

There has been a lot of research dedicated to understanding women’s experiences with depression because of hormone changes, but women’s experiences of emotional arousal, including anxiety, irritability, and anger have received less attention. A group of researchers recently decided to change that by studying more than 200 women to determine the effect of menstrual cycle phase and reproductive age on a woman’s likelihood of being emotionally aroused. Most of these women were partnered, employed, and white.

Through their research, they discovered that participants experienced greater severity of anger, irritability, and feeling out of control during premenses rather than postmenses and more severe irritability, impatience, and feeling out of control symptoms during the early menopause transition (when a woman’s ovaries begin to produce less estrogen and cause noticeable changes in the body) rather than the late reproductive phase (the period immediately before the menopause transition characterized by subtle changes in menstrual flow and cycle length).

In addition, the research demonstrated that many women begin to experience symptoms often associated with the menopause transition even as early as the late reproductive stage, although these women typically experience increasing severity of these arousal symptoms as they continue through the transition. Because the research mostly involved women who were continuing to have menstrual cycles, it was not possible to conclude whether arousal symptoms continue to vary during later stages of reproductive aging when their cycles become markedly irregular.

Results of the study are published in the article “Effects of menstrual cycle phases and reproductive aging stages on arousal symptoms: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study.”

“The findings of this study highlight what women have been telling us for years-that they experience anger and irritability and feel out of control just before their menstrual cycles and that this is more pronounced in the menopause transition. The results also speak to the need to better support women both physically and emotionally as they go through this universal life transition,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society.

Reference:

Woods NF, Mitchell ES. Effects of menstrual cycle phases and reproductive aging stages on arousal symptoms: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Menopause. 2025 May 27. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002570.