This is Your Brain on Hormones

After reading something that said her menstrual cycle changes her brain each month, Senior Correspondent Molly Webster goes on a reporting mission to see if that’s true, and, if so, how. This journey into sex hormones and the brain involves females *and* males, and exacting self-experimentation. It gets into PTSD, and ends with a new twist on self-care (hint: it’s biological). And, it starts to reveal a sneaky truth: that *each one of us* is at the mercy of a crashing sea of chemicals inside of us – those things we call hormones. *Special thanks to Emily Jacobs,* Laura Pritschet*, Pavel Shapturenka, and Dr. Catherine Woolley.* **EPISODE CREDITS:** Hosted by - Molly Webster Reported by - Molly Webster Produced by - Mona Madgavkar with help from - Molly Webster Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly **EPISODE CITATIONS:** **Articles -**  \*\**The experiments we feature in this episode are called: 28andMe, 28andOC, and 28andHe, all of which took place at Emily Jacobs lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara.\*\**  - The 28 Project (https://zpr.io/CSx6MnwZjRvp), background from the Jacobs lab For more on how much variability there is between female and male animals, check out this “groundbreaking” study, referenced by Emily Jacobs in our episode - Sex Bias in Neuroscience and Biomedical Research(https://zpr.io/ZRgKZzdNejUA),  by Beery AK, Zucker I., Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2011 Dr. Catherine Woolley has revolutionized the field of neuroscience and sex hormones, here’s more about her work … - Sex Differences in the Brain Get Down to the Molecular Level Sex (https://zpr.io/UNCLE9J782N5), by Stephanie DeMarco, PhD, The Scientist.com - Hormonal Effects on the Brain (https://zpr.io/DvNM9EkXdtGG), by Woolley, C.S. and Schwartzkroin, P.A. Epilepsia **Data sets -** - 28andMe and 28andOC (https://zpr.io/hbXVNTVp2Q7j): - 28andHe (https://zpr.io/sZXhfMbMwKb7) **Audio -**  In the episode, we mention Dr. Russ Poldrack and the Midnight Scan Club, as inspo for self-experimentation - The Midnight Scan Club (https://zpr.io/CLBhNQSxK844), by Science Friday. *Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show.* Sign up *(https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!* *Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of* The Lab *(https://members.radiolab.org/) today.* *Follow our show on* Instagram*,* Twitter *and* Facebook *@radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing* [*radiolab@wnyc.org*](mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org)*.* *Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.* Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.