IS IT that time of the month? Unusual depression? Mood swings? If you experience such changes before menstruation, it might be because an emotional buffer zone in your brain is not working as it should.
David Silbersweig and colleagues at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 12 women whose moods remained steady throughout their menstrual cycles. From 1 to 5 days before menstruation, and 8 to 12 days after, the women’s brains were scanned as they were shown printed words with either negative, neutral, or positive connotations…
