Psychosomatic Medicine 36:503-512 (1974)
© 1974 American Psychosomatic Society

Mood, Alertness and Sympathetic-Adrenal Medullary Activity during the Menstrual Cycle

¹ Psychological Laboratories, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

Six healthy women were studied during a daily work routine for a period covering two menstrual cycles. Urinary catecholamines and body temperature were measured each morning of ordinary weekdays. On each occasion estimates of subjective mood and alertness were obtained. Four periods of the menstrual cycle, premenses, postmenses, ovulation and postovulation, were compared in respect to physiological and subjective variables. No significant differences in adrenaline and noradrenaline excretion between periods were found. Estimates of subjective states did not generally differ between periods except for feelings of restlessness. Night sleep was most disturbed during premenses, coinciding with the longest sleep duration. All physiological variables exhibited a high degree of intraindividual constancy during the cycle.