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The impact of sex and the menstrual cycle phase on the autonomic response to psychosocial stress remains controversial. This study explored autonomic nervous system activity through salivary alpha-amylase, heart rate, and heart rate variability responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in healthy young people. The sample was composed of 25 men, 26 women in the luteal phase, and 25 women in the follicular phase, from 18 to 25 years of age. Participants were exposed to the TSST or a control condition. The results indicate that women in their follicular phase showed a blunted alpha-amylase response to stress compared to men and women in the luteal phase. In addition, men showed higher sympatho-vagal activity in the stress condition compared to the two groups of women. These results confirm that sex and the menstrual cycle phase are potential modulators of autonomic nervous system reactivity to psychosocial stress., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There is information indicating that the variations induced by the menstrual cycle may influence the capacity of young women to respond to stress. The physiological response to stress changes across the stages of the lifespan; however, in spite of the great increase in life expectancy, the way women react after menopause, a period characterized by a dramatic decline in sex hormones, has not been sufficiently studied. The main objective of the study was to examine the capacity to respond to and recover from an acute social stressor in post-menopausal women compared to young women. The second objective was to investigate the consequences of behavior on the self-regulatory systems. We measured behavior, cortisol, and heart rate during a speaking task in front of a committee in sixty-seven women: 36 post-menopausal and 31 pre-menopausal (follicular group n=14; luteal group n=17). No differences in heart rate reactivity between three groups were found. Post-menopausal women showed less cortisol reactivity to stress; they also displayed a higher percentage of Gestures during the speaking task, reflecting a clearer pattern of active coping compared to the young women. In post-menopausal women, behaviors that reflect active coping strategies were related to better autonomic regulation. By contrast, in pre-menopausal women, cortisol changes seemed to be modulated by passive and reactive behaviors such as Submission and Assertion. These results emphasize the importance of considering age and Hormonal Status in coping processes, including reactivity and recovery from stressful situations., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study explores the influence of pre-learning stress on performance on declarative memory tasks in healthy young adults in relation to sex and menstrual cycle phase. The sample was composed of 119 students (32 men and 87 women) from 18 to 25 years of age. The women were tested in different hormonal stages (30 in follicular phase, 34 in luteal phase, and 23 using oral contraceptives). The participants were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or a control condition. Afterwards, their memory performance was measured using a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). In the control condition, all groups of women recalled more words than men, but these differences disappeared in the group exposed to TSST because men's performance on the memory test improved, but only to the level of women. In addition, our data suggest that in women the relationship between cortisol and memory can be modulated by sex hormone levels, since in luteal women a negative relationship was found between memory performance and peak cortisol level. These results confirm that sex differences need to be considered in the relationship between pre-learning stress and memory performance., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)