Women are 52% of the population yet biomedical research is conducted almost exclusive on males (human and animal). The US Accountability Office reported 80% of the medical devices and drugs are pulled from the market due to the adverse effects on women. Some of them are fatal! They know womes’ metabolism reacts different on medicine. So why are women systymatically left out of the research?

There is a big myth in science believing that woman have to much variability due to her mentrual cycle and therefore give unreliable data. However some recent studies have indicated this is not the case. In one of the studies, there was convincing evidence that when the hormon estrodiol peaks just before ovulation, this increases the interconnectivy over the whole brain. It improves the som called ‘functional connectivity’ optimizing cognition. Even the volume of the hypocampus, the organ responsible for memory and learning, increases when progesterone go up. This is like the tides of the sea, every month for the fertile years of a womans’ life. Pretty predictable!

Meanwhile the study on male hormones, it shows a peak of testosteron in the morning and a drop in the evening and a increase of the hypocampus while it drops in the evening. While this is a constant factor, the male testosteron levels respond to variables such as family life pressure, the lost or winning of a football match or finishing projects. These variables can last for days or weeks.

Do you know that when women go to the doctor with pain, they are more likely to be perscribed psycho-therapy while men are prescribed painkillers. And this is 2022!

Inspired by BBC Radio podcast “28ish Days Later” by India Rakusen