Women are vulnerable to hormonal changes during menstrual cycle and pregnancy. A new study suggests that taking contraceptive pills can also alter their brains.
Combined Oral Contraceptive Pills and Women's Brains
Scientists at the University of Quebec in Montreal have found in a new study that combined oral contraceptive (COC) pills, which some women take to prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation, could alter their brains. Based on the research, contraceptives could impair the fear regulation regions in a woman's brain.
The Canadian researchers examined a group of women who had never used combination contraceptives, had used them in the past but had stopped, or were now using them. The study also included men.
About 150 million women use birth control worldwide. Unfortunately, the synthetic hormones in the pills can have several unfavorable mental side effects that are rarely addressed.
A recent study revealed that women taking the combination pill had a thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex than men, despite the fact that scientists previously knew that different sex hormones alter fear processing in the brain. This brain area is linked to self-control, decision-making, and emotional reactions.
It is believed that this area of the prefrontal cortex maintains emotion regulation, lowering fear signals when in a safe environment. According to Alexandra Brouillard, a researcher at Université du Québec à Montréal and the study's first author, the results "represent a mechanism by which COCs could impair emotion regulation in women."
The contraceptive pill comes with a number of adverse effects. Before beginning the pill, women are typically advised by their doctor of several potential physical adverse effects. However, Brouillard claims that changes in brain development and mental side effects are "rarely addressed."
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Pregnancy, Menstrual Cycle Change Women
Women are bound to change regardless if they are pregnant or avoiding pregnancy. The menstrual cycle alone can alter their brain structure, resulting in them having mood swings when they have periods.
A group of researchers performed MRI images of the three stages of menstruation - menses, ovulation, and mid-luteal. At the time of each scan, the individuals' hormone levels were also measured.
The results showed that the amounts of gray and white matter and cerebrospinal fluid varied along with hormone levels. Specifically, white matter changes in the patient's brains indicated faster information transfer shortly before ovulation, when the spike of luteinizing hormone and 17-estradiol occurs.
The study establishes the groundwork for more investigation, even if it is unclear what this means for the person controlling the brain. It might provide light on the causes of severe but distinct mental health problems related to menstruation.
Additionally, according to another study, motherhood permanently changes a woman. The pregnancy hormones that flood a woman's body to prepare for the growing fetus result in physiological and behavioral changes. However, per Johannes Kohl, group leader of the State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and one of the study's co-authors, the changes that the progesterone and estrogen hormones bring are long-lasting since the remodeled neurons integrate into the rest of the brain network.
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