You probably know the spiral. It’s day 24 of your cycle, and a passing comment from your manager has somehow evolved into a two-hour mental loop about whether you’re bad at your job. By the end of the day, you’re convinced that you’re uniquely terrible at it. By the time you’re home for the evening, you’re a full-on doom cloud. And the icing on the cake? Your premenstrual cramps are even worse than they were that morning.
Surprise, that might not be a coincidence.
Turns out that getting stuck on negative thinking can truly make your PMS feel more intense. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that rumination (the psychological term for repetitive, self-focused negative thinking) was the single strongest predictor of premenstrual symptom severity across all groups studied. That cohort includes women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and anxiety or depression. More than any other measure of emotional dysregulation, the tendency to get stuck in thought loops predicted how bad symptoms became.
The study also found that women with PMDD showed significantly greater rumination and emotional dysregulation than those with PMS or no premenstrual symptoms at all. That suggests that these conditions may exist on a spectrum, with overthinking as a key driver behind feeling bad, rather than just a side effect.
So why does this matter? For one thing, it suggests that hormones aren’t the only factor when it comes to premenstrual experiences. Biology is absolutely a factor, but these findings point to something fascinating: your relationship with your thoughts during your luteal phase (aka the post-ovulation time before your period) may be shaping how those two weeks feel. During a phase when you’re already neurologically more sensitive to stress and mood shifts, overthinking can create a compounding effect that makes everything feel more dire than it truly is. Hence the “I’m bad at my job” spiral.
But ruminators aren’t as doomed as they might think they are. If you’re looking to reduce your ruminating, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based interventions (like meditation) can help. While those activities can’t stop PMS altogether (if only!), they can interrupt the negative thought cycles that might make your PMS worse. So the next time you consider cycle-syncing your exercise and food intake, think about also scheduling a therapy or meditation session during the luteal phase. It might just be the thing that makes a difference for your mental and physical well-being.
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