>Birth control pills may slightly alter the structure of women's brains, according to a new study.
>The study found that women taking the pill, or oral contraceptives, had a smaller hypothalamus than women not taking the pill. The hypothalamus is a pea-size structure deep inside the brain that helps regulate involuntary functions, such as appetite, body temperature and emotions. It also serves as a link between the nervous system and endocrine system, a network of glands that produce hormones.
>On average, the women taking the pill had a hypothalamus that was about 6% smaller than it was in women not taking the pill, the study found. For a brain region, "that's a pretty sizable difference," Lipton said.
>Given that the hypothalamus produces hormones that regulate the body's endocrine system, the results are not all that surprising, said Jonathan Schaffir, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Ohio State University, who was not involved in the research. Birth control pills may be telling the hypothalamus that it doesn't need to produce these hormones. In fact, prior studies have shown that sex hormones promote neurons' growth, Lipton said. One hypothesis is that the synthetic hormones in oral contraceptives interfere with these effects and lead to less brain cell growth.
http://archive.li/4hq7b
Spread this far and wide. Also try to abstain from birth control pills for a few months and see if your mood has changed
