The painful menstrual cramps that women experience monthly may alter their brains, according to new research from Taiwan. Researchers used a special type of brain scan to study the brains of women who experience high levels of menstrual pain. They found "abnormalities" in the grey matter of women who reported having bad cramps during their menstruation.Some of the abnormalities include lower volume in parts of the brain related to pain processing, high-level sensory processing, and emotional regulation. The women also had more volume in the brain regions related to pain modulation and endocrine function regulation.
Experts aren't sure exactly how the brain changes affect a woman's experience of pain. But they do believe that menstrual pain may be similar to other forms of chronic pain, which are known to actually make the brain more sensitive to pain and, therefore, make the pain sensations worse!
According to one researcher:
"A long-term bombardment by peripheral pain can elicit plastic changes in the central brain as a reactive adaptation... It can also be a crucial mechanism that perpetuates the 'chronification' of pain."
Learn some mo': Menstrual Cramps May Alter Women's Brains
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