Smoking is bad for your health, but there also appears to be a connection between smoking and PMS. Studies suggest that cigarette smoking raises levels of prolactin, a hormone that can reduce progesterone levels. In this way, it can increase the severity of PMS symptoms. Smoking can also damage the reproductive system: the nicotine in cigarettes can damage ovaries, cause menstrual abnormalities, and decrease the production of estrogen. A 1999 study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that cigarette smoking was associated with a host of menstrual irregularities: an increased risk of bleeding between periods, excessively frequent periods, periods that lasted longer than one week, and irregular periods. In addition, women who smoke tend to go through menopause earlier.

Does PMS Make You Smoke More?

Smokers often use cigarettes to control anxiety, so women with strong PMS symptoms might smoke more during PMS. Researchers have looked at the connection between smoking and menstrual phase and the results are decidedly mixed.

For example, there’s a strong association between smoking and a diagnosis of PMDD, but this is not necessarily because smoking causes PMDD, but because PMDD is a mood disorder similar depression. Research has shown there’s a strong correlation between smoking and a lifetime prevalence of depression. So in this case, it’s the depressive disorder and not the menstrual aspect of PMDD that appears linked to smoking.

In another example, a 2000 study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors supported earlier findings that women with severe menstrual symptoms had more severe smoking abstinence effects, such as cravings and withdrawal symptoms, but menstrual phase did not appear to influence the desire for smoking.

Smoking is especially dangerous if you are taking oral contraceptives (whether to reduce PMS symptoms or to prevent pregnancy). Smoking increases your risk of developing cardiovascular problems such as blood clots; it also increases your risk of heart attacks and strokes. The risk increases as you age and with heavy smoking (or more cigarettes a day). The risks are significant in women over thirty-five. If you are a smoker over the age of thirty-five, you should not take oral contraceptives.