Recent research published in creative behavior journal This suggests that women tend to generate more creative ideas during the ovulatory phase of their menstrual cycle. This study provides evidence that this temporary boost in creativity is likely a side effect of the natural increase in physiological arousal that occurs during this time. These findings help explain how biological changes in the human body indirectly shape everyday thinking and problem-solving skills.
Divergent thinking is a specific type of mental process used to generate multiple different solutions to open-ended problems. This is considered an important indicator of state-dependent creative potential and represents a temporary and flexible increase in the ability to think outside the box. Previous research has shown that women tend to perform better on divergent thinking tasks during the fertile period of the menstrual cycle compared to the non-fertile period.
Some experts have proposed that this increase acts as a subtle social signal to potential mates. From an evolutionary perspective, highly creative people may be more successful in attracting partners because creativity may indicate intelligence and cognitive flexibility. If this is the case, the temporary spike in creative displays during ovulation may serve a very specific reproductive purpose.
“In two previous studies I conducted, we found that women tend to generate more creative ideas during ovulation,” said Katarzyna Galasinska, a researcher at the SWPS University in Warsaw and the Department of Psychology at the University of Wrocław in Poland. “We were interested in understanding why this happens,” Galasinska said, noting that one possible explanation is that women experience high levels of physical arousal during their fertile years.
Since moderate levels of physical arousal are known to promote creative thinking, heightened originality may simply be an unintended consequence of this biological condition. “In a previous study, we tried to test this idea using a self-report measure that asked women how aroused or activated they felt,” Galasinska said. “However, self-reports do not necessarily reflect what is happening physiologically, because people are not always aware of subtle changes in their body’s state.”
“So I decided to use electrodermal activity, a physiological measure of arousal that reflects changes in skin conductance that accompany activation of the sympathetic nervous system,” she explained.
The researchers recruited women of reproductive age from a Polish university for the study. The final sample included 69 women between the ages of 18 and 35 who experienced natural menstrual cycles lasting between 21 and 35 days. None of the participants were using hormonal contraceptives, pregnant, or recently postpartum, so their natural hormonal cycles were not disrupted.
Each participant participated in four separate laboratory sessions scheduled based on the specific phase of the individual’s menstrual cycle. These appointments include the early follicular phase immediately after menstruation, two separate ovulatory phases spanning different cycles, and the late luteal phase leading up to the next menstrual period. The researchers used a home luteinizing hormone test and saliva microscopy to determine exactly when each woman was in a fertile window.
During the laboratory session, participants completed exercises designed to measure divergent thinking abilities. They were given five minutes to list as many unusual and creative uses as possible for common everyday items such as bricks, towels, shoes and bottles. Independent judges later evaluated these responses without knowing any details about the participants or their cycle stages.
The judges evaluated responses based on three specific categories. They focused on fluency, which is the total number of valid ideas that participants generated. They measured flexibility, or the variety of conceptual categories represented in the responses. Finally, we scored originality, which measures the unique and unusual nature of a particular idea.
While the women worked on a brainstorming task, the scientists recorded their physiological arousal using a sensor attached to the fingers of their non-dominant hand. This technology measures electrodermal activity and tracks subtle changes in sweat gland production associated with the sympathetic nervous system. Increased skin conductance indicates that the body is experiencing increased physical activation or arousal.
During one of the two ovulation sessions, the scientists introduced a special intervention aimed at reducing the participants’ arousal levels. Before starting the brainstorming task, the women were taken to a comfortable room and asked to relax on a couch for 10 minutes. During this break, they listened to soothing music played on Tibetan singing bowls to deliberately calm their nervous systems.
The data revealed that women generated more creative ideas during fertile and ovulatory periods compared to non-fertile periods. However, the total number of ideas and type of categories did not vary according to menstrual cycle phase. The sensor also detected a higher number of physiological arousal peaks during the ovulatory period compared to non-pregnant periods.
“This turned out to be a useful approach,” Galasinska told Cypost. “In fact, we found that women had higher physiological arousal during ovulation. This increase statistically explained women’s higher originality scores. This suggested that the increase in creative potential during ovulation may be related to changes in physiological activation rather than a conscious sense of arousal.”
Interestingly, when women filled out self-report questionnaires, they did not report feeling energized, positive, or sexually aroused on their fertile days. “What surprised us most was that physiological arousal and self-reported arousal were essentially unrelated,” Galasinska says. “While women showed clear physiological changes during ovulation, they did not report feeling more aroused than during other stages of the cycle.”
This disconnect highlights the striking difference between conscious emotions and actual physical states. “This suggests that important psychological processes can be triggered by changes in the body that occur outside of consciousness,” she added. The authors found that an increased number of physical arousal peaks was directly related to ovulation and the generation of more original ideas.
Relaxation exercises provided evidence supporting the idea that this physical arousal causes a spike in creativity. When women listened to relaxing and calming music during their fertile years, their physical arousal decreased compared to a regular testing session. Following this decline in physical activity, the originality of their ideas also declined, to levels typically seen in non-pregnant periods.
Although this study provides detailed insight into the link between the menstrual cycle and creative thinking, there are some limitations to keep in mind. Relaxation exercises were successful in reducing physical arousal, but also improved participants’ overall positive mood. Positive moods tend to encourage creative thinking, so changes in emotional tone may have complicated the results and influenced the final score.
“Our research focused on a specific aspect of creativity: divergent thinking,” Galasinska explained. “Creativity is a broader phenomenon, and we cannot assume that all forms of creativity vary in the same way.” It is important not to misinterpret these findings as a general measure of a person’s overall creativity, intelligence, or artistic talent.
“Furthermore, our findings are consistent with the idea that physiological arousal may contribute to changes in creative thinking across the menstrual cycle, but this conclusion should be treated with caution,” Galasinska said. “Our study is only part of the evidence, and further research using different measures and methodologies is needed to draw firm conclusions. Other biological, emotional, or motivational factors related to ovulation may also play an important role.”
Future research may investigate how these physical changes interact with specific medical variables. “One of my next steps is to understand how hormonal contraception affects women’s creative potential,” Galasinska said. “Our findings suggest that naturally occurring hormonal changes can influence physiological arousal and, in turn, originality of thought.”
“This raises an important question: What happens when hormonal fluctuations are reduced or eliminated by the use of contraceptives?” she asked. “Answering this question will help us better understand the complex relationships between hormones, physiology, and cognition, while also addressing a topic that is highly relevant to millions of women around the world.”
“I want women to get the message that cognitive abilities are not necessarily constant throughout the menstrual cycle,” Galasinska says. “Biological processes can subtly influence how we think, solve problems, and generate new ideas, even if we are not consciously aware of the changes.”
“More broadly, our findings highlight the close relationship between body and mind,” she explained. “While creativity is often viewed as a purely intellectual ability, our research suggests that physiological states can shape the originality of our ideas. Understanding these connections may help us better understand the factors that influence creativity in everyday life.”
“I think this study also highlights the importance of examining human behavior at multiple levels of explanation,” Galasinska told SciPost. “Increased creativity during ovulation has often been discussed from an evolutionary perspective, focusing on its possible function in mating and sexual selection. In this study, we asked a different question: What physiological mechanisms produce this effect?”
“Following the approach proposed by Nicolaas Tinbergen, both types of explanations are needed to more fully understand behavior. Our findings suggest that, rather than competing with evolutionary explanations, physiological arousal may represent one of the proximate mechanisms by which these broader patterns emerge.”
The study, “Peak creative potential during ovulation: a byproduct of physiological arousal,” was authored by Katarzyna Galasinska, Michal Olszanowski, Aleksandra Tolopilo, Natalia Frankowska, Gniewomir Jachlewski, and Aleksandra Szymkow.
