It is completely obvious that men do not have periods. What I am saying is do males PMS like females do monthly? Yes, I am speaking for all the females by saying that we do get moody quite a bit around that time. What I am saying is males get moody and douche-y around certain times of the month. Therefore, it brought me to the question whether or not they do PMS, so I decided to do research to see if it really is a “Girl thing” or that Guys equally PMS (figuratively) along with the rest of us females.

What is PMS and what are the symptoms?

PMS stands for Premenstrual Syndrome. It has a variety of symptoms that are part of the female menstrual cycle. These symptoms usually occur about one week before the period begins and often disappears at the start of the period. Mood swings, cramps, bad skin, headaches, bloating, difficulty sleeping, sore breasts, and digestive issues are the most common symptoms. This website can help you with more information if you are seeking it.

IMS definition and symptoms

Men go through the male PMS: which is “IMS” (Irritable Male Syndrome). The definition says that it is a state of hypersensitivity, frustration, anxiety, and anger that occurs in males and is associated with biochemical changes, hormonal fluctuations, stress, and loss of male identity. Jed Diamond, a therapist and author of The Irritable Male Syndrome, has done searching in the past on the existence of male periods and believes that “men have hormonal cycles just as women do.” He also spoke upon the subject adding that men become violent when their testosterone, the hormone that gives them their mojo, levels go down, irritability, depression, anxiousness, and exhibit lower self-esteem play a role. Cosmopolitan Magazine says that the testosterone levels in young men fluctuate daily and it is at its highest during the morning and then drops as the day goes on. What is unclear is how these levels vary day to day and week by week. VoucherCloud (UK version of Groupon) decided to conduct a this study to explore the man period phenomenon.

The IMS studies conducted

VoucherCloud asked male survey respondents of over 2,400 (half men, half women) if they frequently suffered the same common side effect of PMS that women experience during their menstrual cycle such as tiredness, cramps, and increased sensitivity. As a result, 26% of men experienced these feelings on a regular basis, while more than 58% of their female partners believed them. The men identified several PMS elated symptoms as signs of their “man periods”, such as constant hunger to general irritability. About 12% of men confessed that they were more sensitive about personal weight while 5% suffered from cramps.

VoucherCloud also found that on average, males spend about an additional $124.63 on food and snacks per month, including on takeout, compared to those that did not believe they had man periods. The men who reported that they suffered from the menstrual symptoms spend an extra $97.35 per month in their increased food cravings. This study, conducted by Professor Karen J. Pine at the University of Hertfordshire in 2009, found that a women’s menstrual cycle influences her spending habits about 10 days before her period begins. Women are likely to go on a shopping spree or go overboard by $27. The research found that “women were shopping excessively as a way to deal with negative emotions they experience during their cycle to cheer themselves up.”

This study, performed 2004, suggested that men suffered from PMS symptoms actually as badly as women do. The results showed that the males scored higher in depression, hot flashes, pain, and lack of arousal.

Study Analysis: My viewpoint

The studies performed were not the best for they did not state ages of the participants. I assumed that they were all adults anywhere from ages 35+ married couples together for more than 10 years. However, since we do not know, we do not know if we can generalize these findings to all ages. However, earlier stated, they did say young men testosterone fluctuate about four times a day. Couples are marrying young nowadays and are together just as long as the mature ones are so this makes it difficult to decide which the focus. I would better the research by focusing in on one age group with similar partner details. Such as the time length they are together or if they have kids that could affect the study as a confounding variable. This could help find out if the relationship is healthy or destructive to the male in the sense of causing him to have these symptoms. If the relationship is not going well, the arguments or health issues between the two can cause the male to experience this triumph. The results showed that correlation but it does not tell us about causation. The studies found that men that who showed symptoms of PMS did prove that they were ongoing IMS and spent more in result of this. However, the statistical side of it all is not enough to make it mean something.  As discussed in class, it is possible that these studies are false positive, but we cannot know until there are experimental studies. This is the reason why questionnaires are not reliable, for they are not fully accurate. These results state that men are showing signs of these symptoms, but at the same time, more men are showing that nothing is happening than those believing that there is. I do not have confidence in these studies and consider that more studies are needed. I find that these are less reliable than an observational study because they were all questionnaires.

Conclusion

After all my research, Scientists are proving they found that men, even those who deny it, have some symptoms linked to female PMS. They equally show symptoms, spend money on food unnecessarily, and overall experience what is like to feel like the world is against you for about a week. The logic behind these studies seemed like they were on to something but the lack of specification in generalizability and numerical values of participants made the studies seem shaky. The take away message here is: if you are not a male, married, over the age of about 30, or finding yourself spending money you do not have then I can reassure you that Irritable Man Syndrome (IMS) does not pertain to you. On the other hand, if these do apply to you I can say that the likely hood of you having it is very slim for the statistics that are being shown are less than 30% of males. In addition, for the women with the “man period” spouses, there is reassurance that in case you think your significant other is going to “Sync periods” with you, the data shows a highly no. It is only possible with female-to-female cycles.