Birth control pills reduce emotional recognition in women

Birth control pills have unwanted side effects such as mood swings, nausea, headaches and breast pain. In addition, using the pill also affects women's ability to recognize emotions, theo Independent.

Scientists from the University of Greifswald, Germany, studied 95 healthy women aged 18 to 35, of whom 42 used birth control pills. The results were recently published inFrontiers in Neuroscience.

For the study, the team showed 37 black-and-white photos showing the area around the eyes on people's faces. Each photo had four labels, each describing a different complex emotional expression, such as "pride" or "contempt."

Volunteers were asked to choose which expression they thought best described the picture, by pressing the corresponding button as quickly as possible. The results showed that women who were on the pill were less able to accurately decode facial expressions than others.

"Oral contraception causes a significant impairment in women's emotional recognition," said lead study author Dr. Alexander Lischke, but he said the side effect would be difficult to detect if we weren't careful.

Dr. Lischke says further research is needed to see whether the ability to recognize emotions depends on the type of drug, the time of taking it, and the purpose of use.

“As research is completed, we will know more about the consequences of oral contraceptive use,” says Dr. Lischke.