Memory and the Pill



Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) report that while birth control pills don’t damage memory, they can alter it. Women that were not taking birth control pills were better at remembering details than their peers on the pill.
The difference makes sense, says UCI graduate researcher Shawn Nielsen, because contraceptives suppress sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone to prevent pregnancy. These hormones were previously linked to women’s strong left-brain memory by a UCI research group led by Ph.D. Neurobiologist Larry Cahill.

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