• Posted June 23, 2025

Menstrual Cycle Might Play A Role In Drinking

MONDAY, June 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A woman’s craving for alcohol might depend partially on her menstrual cycle, a pilot study says.

Specifically, women appear to have higher risk for alcohol cravings and binge drinking during the late follicular phase of their menstrual cycle, researchers reported Sunday at the Research Society on Alcohol’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

That’s when a woman’s cycle begins to ebb prior to ovulation, where estrogen levels are high and progesterone levels are low, researchers said.

“Overall, craving and alcohol use have been found to be increased when estradiol levels are high and progesterone levels are low, and this risk diminishes when progesterone levels are high,” researcher Layne Robinson, a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Kentucky, said in a news release.

“We know that increases in estradiol, the most prominent form of estrogen, can alter dopamine activity in the brain,” Robinson added. “These changes in dopamine neurotransmission have been found to heighten reward sensitivity, a key mechanism of substance craving and use.”

For the preliminary study, researchers recruited 61 women ages 21 to 35 who said they drink alcohol at least two times a week.

Participants provided daily self-reports of alcohol use and craving, as well as daily samples of saliva for hormone levels and urine samples to track ovulation.

Results showed that women late in their period had a significant risk for alcohol cravings that could lead to binge drinking.

“If women were aware of risky periods for drinking and alcohol craving, such as certain menstrual cycle phases or reproductive periods, they may be able to take precautions to reduce their drinking,” Robinson said.

“It is also possible that hormone-stabilizing medications could be successful in aiding treatment for alcohol use disorders in women,” she added.

However, more research is needed to better understand the potential links between hormones and drinking, Robinson added. The study could not draw a direct cause-and-effect link, only that there is an association.

“The effects of progesterone on the brain and risk for drinking are less clear,” Robinson said.” However, previous research has found that increases in progesterone may protect against the risky profile of increases in estradiol.”

Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on the menstrual cycle.

SOURCE: Research Society on Alcoholism, news release, June 22, 2025