What biological benefit is there to a female's hormonal/emotional upheaval at PM

[Nero]

What biological benefit (if any) is there to a female's hormonal/emotional upheaval at PMS time?

It is now understood that the female orgasm (once thought to be superfluous) aids in grabbing sperm.

Do you suppose there is a biological benefit to a female's hormonal and emotional upheaval during PMS?

I notice this happening to me. Almost everytime I've cried or been upset over something, I've always noticed it's been during PMS.

So is there some great mystical reason behind this? I suspect somewhere there is.

Could it be a sort of 'flushing' or 'vomiting' of the psyche in concordance with the body's cycle?

Is a woman more likely to need sex when she's emotional? Thus, she would be having sex at the right time of the cycle?

Any thoughts?

[Zelane]

Hmm, hard question >.<

Its even harder because every female with a cycle can have it differently from the others. What I know it that during the ovulation its when your body basically ask for sex and its telling you to have kids.

As for the upheavals... the only thing that came into mind its to "trick", "signal" your partner you need protection. Well if you get like confused, prone to accidents, moody, fatigued and with some pain (at least thats what I know from experience)

[TamTam]

I'm not sure if there's a purpose behind it.. I tend to think it's a consequence of all the hormones floating around, but not an intentional one.  Just like the aging process doesn't necessarily have a 'purpose,' but is just a consequence of other things that do have purpose.

[Miniar]

The female cycle averages out to 28 days from first day of periods to the next first day of periods. She's considered the most fertile in the middle of that cycle (day 14).
So if emotional upheaval turns up with PMS then that's not likely to be intended to increase chances of breeding.

That being said, PMS has been researched significantly and it's been found that the majority of the irritability and other mood issues are psychosomantic. That is to say, PMS "the time of the month" and all that, is more commonly a subconscious excuse to vent emotions and so women will "allow" themselves more during that time, but it's not the fault of the natural cycle, but our ideas of what comes with it.

[Nero]

That being said, PMS has been researched significantly and it's been found that the majority of the irritability and other mood issues are psychosomantic. That is to say, PMS "the time of the month" and all that, is more commonly a subconscious excuse to vent emotions and so women will "allow" themselves more during that time, but it's not the fault of the natural cycle, but our ideas of what comes with it.

That's interesting but conflicts with my personal experience. Could be true of other females, but my periods are irregular and I never know when they're going to come (sometimes later, sometimes sooner). My feeling emotional is actually the sign I'm about to have my period.

[Zelane]

That being said, PMS has been researched significantly and it's been found that the majority of the irritability and other mood issues are psychosomantic. That is to say, PMS "the time of the month" and all that, is more commonly a subconscious excuse to vent emotions and so women will "allow" themselves more during that time, but it's not the fault of the natural cycle, but our ideas of what comes with it.

That being said that PMS its just one of those things that cant be explained and understood if you dont suffer it (like GID?) It is real just not everyone will have it. 

[Miniar]

That being said that PMS its just one of those things that cant be explained and understood if you dont suffer it (like GID?) It is real just not everyone will have it. 

I'm biologically female. I have a mestration cycle.

[Nicky]

I think it is just a biproduct of our biological system, just a result of the hormonal changes needed to prep the body for breeding. It probably is not so much of a disadvantage to the species that we evolved a way to not suffer it. Evolutionary speaking other things are more important like being able to breed or be emotionaly sensitive to hormonal changes.

[Zelane]

I'm biologically female. I have a mestration cycle.

So? It doesnt mean you will have PMS. Sorry but your attitude of "doesnt exist" piss me off. And I have had this discussion with other friends and its like two sides. The ones who have it and the ones that doesnt.

The ones that dont jsut look at us like we are crazy. And the ones that do. Well we feel the other side its unsympathetic and a total B* (funny being B its kinda noooormal)

[Miniar]

So? It doesnt mean you will have PMS. Sorry but your attitude of "doesnt exist" piss me off. And I have had this discussion with other friends and its like two sides. The ones who have it and the ones that doesnt.

The ones that dont jsut look at us like we are crazy. And the ones that do. Well we feel the other side its unsympathetic and a total B* (funny being B its kinda noooormal)

I base my understanding of the phenomenon on actual research into the matter.

[Dennis]

Looks like there is some research that points to PMDD at least as being real:

http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/971023/pms.shtml

My ex used to get psychotically homicidal at that time of the month (as opposed to her usual low-grade homicidal tendencies), and certainly didn't seem to have any awareness that it was worse at certain times. I dunno. I never had it myself, but I'm not going to deny anyone else's symptoms without clearer research.

Dennis

[TamTam]

Research or not, I had regular PMS symptoms long before I learned to correlate them with 'that time of the month.'  In fact, it caused a great deal of pain in my life because I would take my symptoms [very emotional and worsening all my bad qualities] seriously and do things I would never have normally done.  Once I realized it was happening at the same time every month, I could suppress it and make it easier to deal with.  These days, I don't get symptoms every month, or at the same time every month.  So I don't see how I could be PMSing because I 'expect' it when I never do.

So frankly, just because some research you've done says that sometimes PMS is psychosomatic, which I don't doubt, that doesn't mean that's the case for everyone that experiences PMS.

[Starr]

I agree that PMS is quite real, no matter what sort of research anyone comes up with. (It seems that there's research to support any and all positions no matter what the topic. In this case, I wouldn't be surprised if the research against PMS was done exclusively by men.  Just kidding-no offense meant to the guys here.)

Up until my mid-thirties I used to have cramps but no PMS. That's been changing over the last several years. Now I'm not really bothered with cramps, but I definitely have emotional changes. I'm an extrememly sensitive person on any given day (but not "fragile" - ask Hypatia what happens if someone calls me that), but even without paying any attention to the calendar, I can tell it's getting close because my emotions go into overdrive. I don't get mean; I just cry.

Perhaps any research should follow the same women throughout their lives to see what happens. Things change over time.

[Miniar]

Psychosomatic doesn't mean "not real". It only means that the root cause is psychological rather than physical. It doesn't mean people don't experience symptoms.

[TamTam]

But how can the cause be psychological if it was happening before I was aware of any correlation between the symptoms and my period?  And if it changes from month to month?

[Sephirah]

Maybe this will be of interest:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/pms1.htm

I'm not sure it is psychosomatic, at least in the sense that there does seem to be a tangible, physical alteration in brain chemistry involved.