{"id":942,"date":"2023-04-02T13:17:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T17:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/?p=942"},"modified":"2023-04-02T13:17:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T17:17:42","slug":"the-contraceptive-brain-drain-how-birth-control-alters-womens-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/science\/the-contraceptive-brain-drain-how-birth-control-alters-womens-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"The Contraceptive Brain Drain: How Birth Control Alters Women’s Brains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There are millions of women taking steroids every day. But how is this possible? Are they just getting really buff? It feels like we always hear stories about how performance-enhancing drugs, namely steroids, are giving world-class athletes the boost they need to beat out their competition. But women across the globe are taking steroids every day as well, in the form of hormonal birth control. Despite their widespread use, side effects of hormonal contraceptives are largely unstudied, or have been until recently. In the last ten years, several studies have come out about the effect of taking a daily dose of steroids on women\u2019s brains and mental health, which until now has been a severely neglected area where lack of knowledge affects millions of people worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People take hormonal birth control, or hormonal contraceptives, for a myriad of reasons, from the obvious (preventing pregnancy) to the not-so-obvious (lessening iron deficiency) and everything in between. This type of medication simply refers to methods of pregnancy prevention that act on the endocrine system. The endocrine system controls growth, development, metabolism, and reproduction via signaling molecules called hormones. Two hormones in particular, estrogen and progesterone, control the menstrual cycle and are therefore the major components of hormonal birth control. Types of hormonal contraceptives come in many forms including the pill, the patch, the implant, injections, and hormonal intrauterine devices or IUDs, but despite the wide variety in the forms this medication takes, all of them contain one or both of these two hormones. As steroids, both estrogen and progesterone affect other body systems besides the reproductive system.<\/span><\/p>\n

To study the impacts of taking a daily dose of steroids on other areas of the body, specifically the brain, Dr. Belinda Pletzer and her colleagues conducted a study in 2010. The brain is particularly susceptible to change due to an influx of synthetic hormones because it contains a very high quantity of hormone receptors. The brain needs to act\u00a0<\/span>as a \u201csponge\u201d for these molecules since it\"\" plays an important role in creating the appropriate responses in the rest of the body. Pletzer\u2019s study investigated how the sponginess of the brain would affect changes in its structure by comparing images of the brain<\/span>s of adult men, adult women during different stages of their menstrual cycle, and adult women taking hormonal\u00a0<\/span>contraceptives. To perform this comparison they used a technique called voxel-based morphology on MRIs of study participants (Pletzer <\/span>et al.<\/span><\/i>, 2010). Voxel-based morphology measures differences in the concentration of tissue and the size and shape of different areas of the brain. <\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, they found that women taking hormonal birth control had smaller areas of gray matter, or areas of the brain that have a high co<\/span>ncentration of the cell bodies of nerve cells, when compared to \u201cnaturally cycling women\u201d in both their follicular and luteal menstrual phases (Figure 1). Pletzer\u2019s study also found i<\/span>nteresting gendered differences <\/span>in gray matter volume. <\/span>Whil<\/span>e men had greater gray matter <\/span>ove<\/span>rall, the <\/span>volume of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, the pre-and postcentral gyri, and the supramarginal gyrus of both naturally cycling women and women taking hor<\/span>monal contraceptive<\/span>s was higher than the volume of gray matter in these areas in men (Figure 2). \"\"Thes<\/span>e areas are involved in decision-making and problem-solving, controlling motor function, and emotional responses. However, the higher amount of gray matter in women in these areas was overshadowed by the larger volume of gray matter in men in\u00a0the hippocampus, hypothalamus, parahippocampal and fusiform gyri, putamen, pallidum, amygdala, and temporal regions of the brain during the early follicular phase (A), mid-luteal phase (B), and in women taking hormonal birth control (C) (Figure 2). Many of these areas of reduced gray matter are ones of high importance for neurophysical ability and mental health.<\/p>\n

Additionally, a study done by Rush University Medical Center showed an association between <\/span>higher levels of gray matter and better cognitive function (\u201cEveryday Activities Associated with More Gray Matter in Brains of Older Adults\u201d). These findings suggest that taking birth control, and the associated decrease in gray matter, could be directly causing some of the symptoms women on hormonal contraceptives experience, such as brain fog, mood changes, and even anxiety and depression. For example, a smaller hypothalamus, one of the areas of decreased gray matter, is associated with heightened irrita<\/span>bility and depression symptoms (\u201cStudy Finds Key Brain Region Smaller in Birth Control Pill Users\u201d). Pletzer\u2019s research and the work of others after her on the impact of birth control on structures of the brain represent important first steps in proving a causative relationship between birth control, symptoms associated with it, and structural changes in <\/span>the brain.<\/p>\n

Although this research has made some crucial preliminary steps into rese<\/span>arching how taking a daily dose of steroids affects the brains of women taking hormonal contraceptives, the highly complex nature of the brain and its relationship with the regulation of the rest of the body means that further research is necessary. The sheer number of people that this issue affects means that it is essential to continue researching the impacts of this widely used drug. More importantly, knowing the potentially serious negative side effects enables millions of people to make more informed decisions concerning their health and their bodies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

Rush University Medical Center. (2018, February 14). Everyday activities associated with more gray matter in brains of older adults: Study measured amount of lifestyle physical activity such as house work, dog walking and gardening. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 11, 2023 from <\/span>www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2018\/02\/180214093828.htm<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lewis, C. A., Kimmig, A. C. S., Zsido, R. G., Jank, A., Derntl, B., & Sacher, J. (2019). Effects of hormonal contraceptives on mood: a focus on emotion recognition and reactivity, reward processing, and stress response. <\/span>Current psychiatry reports<\/span><\/i>, vol. <\/span>21<\/span><\/i>, no.11, 2019, p 115. <\/span>PubMed Central<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11920-019-1095-z<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meyer, Craig H., Kinsley, Elizabeth A. \u201cWomen\u2019s Brains on Steroids.\u201d <\/span>Scientific American<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/womens-brains-on-steroids\/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nemoto, Kiyotaka. \u201c[Understanding Voxel-Based Morphometry].\u201d <\/span>Brain and Nerve = Shinkei Kenkyu No Shinpo<\/span><\/i>, vol. 69, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 505\u201311. <\/span>PubMed<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.11477\/mf.1416200776<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pletzer, Belinda, et al. \u201cMenstrual Cycle and Hormonal Contraceptive Use Modulate Human Brain Structure.\u201d <\/span>Brain Research<\/span><\/i>, vol. 1348, Aug. 2010, pp. 55\u201362. <\/span>ScienceDirect<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brainres.2010.06.019<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharma, Rupali, et al. \u201cUse of the Birth Control Pill Affects Stress Reactivity and Brain Structure and Function.\u201d <\/span>Hormones and Behavior<\/span><\/i>, vol. 124, Aug. 2020, p. 104783. <\/span>ScienceDirect<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.yhbeh.2020.104783<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudy Finds Key Brain Region Smaller in Birth Control Pill Users.\u201d <\/span>ScienceDaily<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2019\/12\/191204090819.htm<\/a>. Accessed 7 Mar. 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are millions of women taking steroids every day. But how is this possible? Are they just getting really buff? It feels like we always hear stories about how performance-enhancing drugs, namely steroids, are giving world-class athletes the boost they need to beat out their competition. But women across the globe are taking steroids every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63,68,1],"tags":[58,117,69,116],"class_list":{"0":"post-942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-biology","7":"category-psych-neuro","8":"category-science","9":"tag-biology","10":"tag-birth-control","11":"tag-medicine","12":"tag-womens-health","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Divya Bhargava '26","author_link":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/author\/dbhargava\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-science-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}