Washington, Sep 10 -
Ladies, please note -- birth control pills affect memory, a new study has
warned.
Researchers at the University of California
have found that women who use contraceptives like birth control pills
experience memory changes -- in fact, their ability to remember the gist of an
emotional event improves, while women not using the contraceptives better
retain details.
ÒWhat's most exciting about this study is that
it shows the use of hormonal contraception alters memory. There are only a
handful of studies examining the cognitive effects of the pill, and more than
100 million women use it worldwide,Ó researcher Shawn Nielsen said.
She stressed that the medications did not
damage memory.
ÒIt's a
change in the type of information they remember, not a deficit,Ó she said.
In the study, groups of women either on the
contraceptive or experiencing natural hormonal cycles were shown photographs of
a mother, her son, and a car accident. The audio narrative differed; some in
each group were told the car had hit a curb, while others were told the car hit
the boy and injured him, the 'Neurobiology of Learning and Memory' journal
reported.
One week later, all were given surprise tests
about what they recalled. Women using hormonal contraceptives for as little as
one month remembered more clearly the main steps in the traumatic event -- that
there had been an accident, that the boy had been rushed to the hospital, that
doctors worked to save his life and successfully reattached both his feet.
Women not using them remembered more details,
such as a fire hydrant next to the car.
The researchers said the
findings could help lead to fuller answers about why women experience post
traumatic stress syndrome more frequently than men, and how men remember
differently than women.
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