Diagnosis
8 ways to improve mental health access across your menstrual cycle
Have you noticed how some weeks you feel clear-headed and energetic, while others leave you foggy, anxious, or tearful? There’s a reason for that.
Your mental health during PMS and across your entire menstrual cycle isn’t random. It’s deeply connected to how your brain responds to shifting hormone levels.
Estrogen and progesterone don’t just affect your reproductive system; they also influence neurotransmitter activity, brain connectivity, and even the volume of certain brain regions linked to memory, mood, and emotional regulation.
Research shows that grey matter volume in areas controlling emotion changes measurably across the menstrual cycle in relation to hormone fluctuations.
This isn’t about being hormonal. It’s about understanding that your brain operates differently at different times of the month, and that knowledge gives you power.
The menstrual cycle experience is ultimately brain-based. The brain is the control centre for how your body reacts to hormonal changes.
When you understand what’s happening in your brain during each phase, you can work with your cycle. That’s where real cycle mood regulation begins.
Why Your Mental Health Shifts Across Your Cycle
Your menstrual cycle follows a predictable hormonal pattern, and these hormones act as chemical messengers that profoundly affect brain function.
Estrogen rises during the follicular phase and tends to boost serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that support mood stability and motivation.
After ovulation, progesterone takes centre stage during the luteal phase.
As both estrogen and progesterone drop sharply before menstruation, some women experience significant mood dips, brain fog, or emotional sensitivity.
These shifts cause noticeable mental health issues during PMS.
The key takeaway? Hormonal mood swings aren’t a character flaw. They’re neurological responses to predictable biochemical changes, and that means they can be managed with the right brain-first strategies.
8 Ways to Support Mental Health Across Your Menstrual Cycle
1. Track Your Patterns to Predict Your Needs
Understanding your unique cycle mood regulation patterns is the foundation of effective self-care. When you track symptoms across multiple cycles, patterns emerge that help you anticipate challenging phases and plan accordingly.
Record daily mood ratings, energy levels, anxiety or irritability, brain fog, and physical symptoms. After 2-3 cycles, you’ll likely spot trends. Maybe your anxiety peaks 5 days before your period, or brain fog hits mid-luteal phase.
The Samphire app acts as an active diary for your cycle, helping you spot when symptoms are likely, plan for focus days and rest days, and build habits around your natural rhythms.
2. Adjust Your Exercise Routine to Match Your Energy
Movement is one of the most powerful tools for mental health during PMS and beyond, but the type and intensity should shift with your cycle phases.
Follicular Phase (Days 1-14): As estrogen rises, try high-intensity interval training, strength training with heavier weights, or running.
Luteal Phase (Days 15-28): As progesterone dominates and energy dips, consider moderate cardio like walking or swimming, yoga, or lighter strength training.
Menstrual Phase (Days 1-5): Gentle movement like restorative yoga or walking can ease cramps and support mood without depleting energy.
Exercise stimulates endorphins and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), both of which support neuroplasticity, or he brain’s ability to adapt. Research consistently shows that regular physical activity reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.
3. Eat to Nourish Your Brain Chemistry
Your brain needs specific nutrients to manufacture neurotransmitters and regulate mood effectively. Hormonal mood swings can be amplified by nutritional deficiencies or blood sugar instability.
Nutrient | Brain Benefit | Food Sources |
Omega-3 fatty acids | Reduces inflammation; supports serotonin | Salmon, walnuts, flaxseeds |
Magnesium | Calms the nervous system; reduces PMS | Dark leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate |
B vitamins (B6) | Essential for neurotransmitter production | Eggs, legumes, bananas |
Complex carbs | Stabilises blood sugar; supports serotonin | Oats, quinoa, sweet potatoes |
During the luteal phase, when serotonin naturally dips, eating complex carbohydrates can help maintain levels and reduce irritability. Avoid excessive caffeine and refined sugar, which can worsen anxiety and create energy crashes.
4. Prioritise Sleep Hygiene Throughout Your Cycle
Sleep disturbances are common across the menstrual cycle, particularly during the luteal phase. Poor sleep directly impacts mood regulation, making existing hormonal mood swings worse.
Sleep strategies for better cycle mood regulation:
- Maintain consistent sleep and wake times
- Cool your bedroom to 65-68°F, especially during the luteal phase
- Limit screens 1-2 hours before bed
- Create a wind-down routine with gentle stretching or meditation
- Avoid caffeine after 2 PM
Research shows that sleep deprivation reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex while increasing amygdala reactivity, making you more emotionally reactive. Quality sleep gives your brain the resources it needs for effective cycle mental health care.
5. Practice Mindfulness and Stress Reduction Techniques
Chronic stress exacerbates mental health during PMS by dysregulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the same system that controls your menstrual cycle.
Mindfulness meditation increases grey matter in brain regions involved in emotional regulation. Just 10-20 minutes daily can reduce anxiety and improve your capacity to manage hormonal mood swings.
Evidence-based techniques to try:
- Breath work: Box breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4) activates the parasympathetic nervous system
- Body scan meditation: Systematically relaxing each part of your body reduces physical tension
- Journaling: Writing about emotions helps process them and identify patterns
- Progressive muscle relaxation: Tensing and releasing muscle groups calms the nervous system
6. Build Strong Social Connections
Social support isn’t just emotionally comforting. It’s neurologically protective. Strong relationships activate brain regions involved in reward processing and stress regulation, helping safeguard mental health during PMS.
During phases when you feel more withdrawn, maintain connection in manageable ways: texting a friend, attending a yoga class, or scheduling video calls during high-energy weeks.
Let trusted friends or partners know that your mood and social energy fluctuate with your cycle. Simply having someone understand why you need more space in certain weeks reduces guilt and anxiety.
7. Consider Cognitive Behavioural Strategies
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques are particularly effective for cycle mental health care because they help you identify and challenge thought patterns that worsen mood symptoms.
Simple CBT strategies for cycle mood regulation:
- Identify the thought: When you notice mood shifting, pause and ask, “What am I thinking right now?”
- Challenge the thought: Is there evidence for this thought? Am I jumping to conclusions?
- Replace with a balanced thought: “I feel irritable right now, and that’s normal for this phase of my cycle. This feeling will pass.”
This practice builds the prefrontal cortex’s capacity to regulate emotional responses, essentially training your brain for better emotional control.
8. Try Brain-Based Neuromodulation
Traditional approaches to cycle mood regulation typically focus on hormonal interventions or lifestyle changes alone. Samphire takes a different approach: targeting the brain directly using gentle neurostimulation.
Nettle™ uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive technology that delivers gentle electrical currents to specific brain regions involved in mood regulation and pain processing.
How brain-based solutions support mental health during PMS:
- Hormone-free and drug-free: Nettle™ provides relief without altering your natural cycle
- Clinically validated: Studies show that tDCS can reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and pain
- Convenient: Just 20 minutes a day, 5 days per cycle, from home
- Works with neuroplasticity: Repeated use helps retrain neural pathways for lasting improvements
When to Seek Professional Support
While these strategies can significantly improve mental health during PMS for many women, some symptoms warrant professional evaluation. Seek help if you experience severe mood symptoms interfering with daily life, thoughts of self-harm, or symptoms that don’t improve after 3 months.
Your Brain, Your Cycle, Your Control
Hormonal mood swings and mental health during PMS challenges aren’t weaknesses. They’re neurological responses to predictable biochemical changes.
When you understand what’s happening in your brain at each phase, you gain the power to support yourself effectively.
At Samphire, the focus is on the neuroscience of women’s health, because to truly understand and improve hormonal wellbeing, you need to start where hormones start: in the brain.
Samphire combines cutting-edge science with time-tested practices to deliver relief for women throughout the cycle.
Ready to experience brain-first cycle mood regulation?
Try Samphire Neuro Nettle™ risk-free with their 90-day trial and support your brain across every phase.
A University of Sheffield initiative is tackling overlooked women’s health problems by helping students develop solutions to delays and inequalities in care.
In a first-of-its-kind collaboration bringing together students, clinicians and industry leaders, new ideas have been developed to address health challenges that leave millions of women facing years-long delays in diagnosis and care.
The Women’s Health Innovation Challenge saw 50 students from across disciplines and year groups work in teams on issues including fragmented care across the female health lifecycle and the widespread normalisation of serious symptoms.
Among the key challenges explored was endometriosis, a condition affecting one in 10 women globally, where patients in the UK face an average diagnosis time of more than nine years.
Other innovations addressed gaps in menopause care, cardiovascular health in women and the fragmentation of digital health solutions across different life stages.
The initiative reflects the university’s growing work in women’s health innovation, a field widely recognised as underfunded and underserved despite affecting half the global population, and its commitment to turning research and ideas into meaningful impact.
Rachel Kovacs, a final year biomedical engineering student at the University of Sheffield and organiser of the event, said: “I was lucky enough to be one of the students to take the first Women’s Health in Biomedical Engineering module in the UK, right here in Sheffield, and it really opened my eyes to how under-innovated the field is.
“I only discovered this in my final year and I wanted other students to find it sooner.
“The event itself has already made a huge difference. Students now see women’s health as a space worth innovating in.
“If even a handful take their ideas further, we could genuinely change women’s lives.
“Having personally experienced some of these gaps, I know the impact this could have on women across the globe.”
The event was supported by experts from across research, industry and healthcare, including panel members from Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, an NHS England organisation which acts as a bridge between healthcare providers, commissioners, academia and industry.
Participants explored a range of possible solutions to some of the sector’s most complex challenges.
The event culminated in students pitching their ideas to a panel including clinicians, academic researchers and founders of women’s health startups, creating a direct link between emerging innovation and real-world application.
The challenge forms part of the university’s wider activity in this space, including its Women’s HealthTech Innovation Network, which brings together regional and national expertise to translate research into solutions that address longstanding inequalities in care.
Dr Vanessa Hearnden, senior lecturer in biomaterials and tissue engineering at the University of Sheffield and co-chair of the Women’s HealthTech Innovation Network, said: “The Women’s Health Innovation Challenge gave students a rare opportunity to work directly with clinicians, researchers and industry partners to tackle real-world problems.
“The quality of ideas and level of engagement demonstrated the impact this kind of interdisciplinary, challenge-led learning can have.”
Women with osteoporosis may be more likely to carry a gene linked to Alzheimer’s, according to new research.
Scientists found that APOE4, the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s, can weaken bone quality in women, even when standard scans appear normal.
The study, carried out by researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in California, US, and UC San Francisco, suggests the gene may damage bone at a microscopic level long before any visible signs.
These changes can emerge as early as midlife and remain invisible to routine imaging tests used to assess bone strength.
The findings suggest a link between Alzheimer’s risk and skeletal health and could help pave the way for earlier detection of both conditions.
Professor Birgit Schilling, a senior author of the study, said: “What makes this finding so striking is that bone quality is being compromised at a molecular level that a standard bone scan simply will not catch.
“APOE4 is quietly disrupting the very cells responsible for keeping bone strong – and it is doing this specifically in females, which mirrors what we see with Alzheimer’s disease risk.”
Doctors have long observed that people with Alzheimer’s suffer higher rates of bone fractures, while osteoporosis in women is known to be one of the earliest predictors of the disease.
Now scientists believe they may have uncovered why.
Researchers led by Dr Charles Schurman carried out a detailed analysis of proteins in aged mouse bone and found that tissue was unusually rich in molecules linked to neurological disease, including those associated with Alzheimer’s.
In particular, long-lived bone cells known as osteocytes showed elevated levels of APOE, with levels twice as high in older female mice compared with younger or male animals.
Further experiments using genetically modified mice revealed that APOE4 had a strong and sex-specific impact on both bone and brain tissue.
The disruption at the protein level was even greater in bone than in the brain.
However, the bone structure itself appeared completely normal under scans.
Instead, the gene interfered with a key maintenance process inside bone cells, preventing them from repairing microscopic channels that keep bones strong and resilient.
When this process breaks down, bones become more fragile even if they look healthy on standard imaging.
These results suggest bone cells could potentially act as early biological warning signs of cognitive decline in women carrying APOE4.
Professor Lisa Ellerby, another senior author, said: “We think targeting these cells may open a new front in preserving bone quality in this population.”
Experts say the findings highlight the need to view the body as an interconnected system rather than treating diseases in isolation.
Dementia, of which Alzheimer’s is the most common form, remains one of the UK’s biggest health challenges.
Around 900,000 people are currently living with the condition, a figure expected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040.
It is already the leading cause of death, responsible for more than 74,000 deaths each year.
Future Fertility, a Toronto-based health technology company specialising in AI-powered fertility insights, has entered the Japanese market through a new commercial partnership with Kato Ladies Clinic — a globally recognised leader in IVF research and advancing clinical fertility care.
The collaboration marks Future Fertility’s first partnership in Japan and reflects growing global demand for technologies that bring greater objectivity and personalisation to fertility care.
Kato Ladies Clinic will integrate the company’s AI-powered oocyte (egg) quality assessment tools into its clinical workflows, with the aim of supporting more informed treatment planning and patient counselling across IVF and egg freezing cycles.
“At Kato Ladies Clinic, we are committed to advancing fertility care through innovation while maintaining a strong focus on individualised, patient-centred treatment,” said Keiichi Kato, chief executive officer.
“Partnering with Future Fertility enables us to integrate objective, data-driven insights into our clinical approach and better support our patients in making informed decisions.”
Future Fertility’s platform analyses images of oocytes using artificial intelligence trained and validated on a dataset of more than 650,000 unique oocyte images.
The technology is already in use at more than 300 clinics across more than 35 countries, helping clinicians better understand the developmental potential of individual eggs and provide patients with more personalised insight earlier in their treatment journey.
From Research Collaboration to Clinical Adoption
The partnership between Future Fertility and Kato Ladies Clinic began as a scientific research collaboration in 2024, marking the first use of AI-powered oocyte quality assessment in Japan.
The collaboration not only validated the technology in a new patient population and across diverse clinical protocols — including minimal stimulation cycles —but also resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in Reproductive BioMedicine Online (RBMO) and a poster abstract presentation at ESHRE 2025.
The joint research explored how AI-derived oocyte quality scores relate to early embryonic development and overall treatment outcomes. In a retrospective study conducted at Kato Ladies Clinic, researchers analysed nearly 2,800 mature oocytes across more than 1,300 ICSI cycles, linking image-based assessments of egg quality to key developmental milestones.
The study demonstrated that lower AI scores were associated with reduced fertilization rates, delays, and abnormalities in early embryo development, increased developmental errors, and lower-quality blastocyst formation.
Notably, the researchers also found that cumulative oocyte scores were a stronger predictor of live birth outcomes than the number of eggs retrieved — underscoring the importance of assessing egg quality alongside quantity.
“Our collaboration with Future Fertility has demonstrated how artificial intelligence can uncover meaningful biological differences between oocytes that were previously difficult to quantify,” said Kenji Ezoe, senior scientist.
“Bringing this technology into routine clinical use is an important step toward translating research into improved patient outcomes.”
Future Fertility’s VP of clinical embryology & scientific operations, Jullin Fjeldstad, noted that the findings provide important clinical validation.
“Our joint research with Kato Ladies Clinic has shown how AI-based oocyte assessment can be directly linked to numerous embryo development outcomes, from fertilization through early developmental milestones and blastocyst formation,” she said.
“We are excited to see this work translated into clinical practice.”
Growing Demand for Fertility Care in Japan
The partnership comes at a time when demand for fertility treatment in Japan continues to rise.
The country performs over 450,000 fertility treatment cycles annually, making it one of the largest markets globally. Delayed childbearing and evolving societal trends have also contributed to increasing interest in egg freezing.
As patients seek more clarity and personalization in their care, tools that provide earlier insight into reproductive potential are gaining traction.
“Entering the Japanese market with a partner like Kato Ladies Clinic is a significant step forward for our global commercial strategy,” said Rafael Gonzalez, Future Fertility’s VP of global sales & strategy.
“It reflects the growing demand for technologies that support more transparent, data-driven fertility care across diverse healthcare systems.”
Expanding a Global Footprint
Founded in 1993, Kato Ladies Clinic is known for its pioneering work in natural and minimal stimulation IVF and has long been a leader in clinical innovation in Japan.
For Future Fertility, the partnership represents both a geographic expansion and a continuation of its broader mission to bring AI-driven insights into routine fertility care.
“We are proud to partner with Kato Ladies Clinic, a globally respected leader in IVF and a pioneer in reproductive medicine in Japan,” said Future Fertility’s CEO, Christy Prada.
“This partnership represents an important milestone as we expand into Asia and continue our mission to bring objective, personalised insights into fertility care worldwide.”
Future Fertility develops AI-powered tools designed to generate personalised insights across the fertility journey.
Its flagship oocyte assessment technologies analyse egg images to provide objective, individualised measures of egg quality, supporting treatment planning, patient counselling, and clinical decision-making in egg freezing and IVF, while also enabling more data-driven approaches to donor egg distribution and quality assurance.
As fertility care continues to evolve, collaborations like this one are helping shape a new standard — one that emphasises earlier insight, greater transparency, and more personalised decision-making for patients navigating increasingly complex reproductive journeys.
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