Menstrual cycle occur as a result of adopting a restricted diet, as well as engaging in a high amount of exercise. Finally, the cycle is affected more by a vegetarian diet compared to a non-vegetarian diet. Studies investigating effects of the menstrual cycle on alcohol consumption have found mixed evidence. However, some evidence suggests that individuals consume more alcohol during the luteal stage, especially if these individuals are heavy drinkers or have a family history of alcohol abuse. The level of substance abuse increases with PMS, mostly with addictive substances such as nicotine, tobacco and cocaine. One theory behind this suggests this
Menstrual cycle with test scores. When completing empathy exercises, women in the follicular stage of their menstrual cycle performed better than women in their midluteal phase. A significant correlation between progesterone levels and the ability to accurately recognize emotion was found. Performances on emotion recognition tasks were better when women had lower progesterone levels. Women in the follicular stage showed higher emotion recognition accuracy than their midluteal phase counterparts. Women were found to react more to negative stimuli when in midluteal stage over the women in the follicular stage, perhaps indicating more reactivity to social stress during that menstrual cycle phase. Overall,