Does Voting Boost Women's Hormones?

Hormones are a popular topic in women's health. Monthly periods, blood flow, fatigue are problematic hormone issues whether women are thirty or fifty. 

Hormones impact women on every level and in their decisionmaking and sense of well-being.

In my curiosity, I dug up some studies around the concept of how hormones might influence women during the elections.*

Political elections are dominance competitions. ⁠

When MEN win a dominance competition, their testosterone levels rise or remain stable. And when they lose, their testosterone levels fall. However, it is unknown whether this change in the testosterone pattern extends beyond interpersonal competitions to the vicarious experiences of winning or losing in the context of political elections. 

That being said, a hormone study conducted during the Obama campaign indicated a decrease in testosterone for men who voted, but if their nominee lost.*

The previous study goes on to say "WOMEN's testosterone responses to dominance competition outcomes are understudied and, to date, a clear pattern of testosterone changes has not emerged in response to winning and losing dominance competitions ."

HERE'S MY THOUGHTS ON VOTING AND WOMEN'S HORMONES:
Voting should make a significant difference in women's hormone levels because when women exercise personal powers, their immune systems and the mind-body-emotional collective change the body's chemistry.

It just makes sense, even without hundreds of studies.

MANY WOMEN I KNOW feel better, lighter and stronger after voting because they have voiced their opinion. ⁠Perhaps this experience of feeling stronger can be considered a hormonal shift.

Our voices are powerful. Exercise your voice and feel the good feelings that come from making a stance. Whoo-hoo! HORMONE POWER!

⁠*Citation: "Dominance, Politics, and Physiology: Voters' TesWtosterone Changes on the Night of the 2008 United States Presidential Election." By Steven J. Stanton, Jacinta C. Beehner, Ekjyot K. Saini, Cynthia M. Kuhn, Kevin S. LaBar. PLoS ONE, October 21, 2009. *

Pers Soc Psychol

Women's intercollegiate athletic competition: cortisol, testosterone, and the dual-hormone hypothesis as it relates to status among teammates.Edwards DA, Casto VK.Horm Behav. 2013 Jun;64(1):153-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.03.003. Epub 2013 March 19.PMID: 23523743

2020 Jan 24;8:e8402.Within-person coupling of estradiol, testosterone, and cortisol in women athletes David A Edwards 1, Bulent Turan 

Different Effects of Gender and Sex on Vote ChoiceMarch 2012 Political Research Quarterly 65(1):76-92 DOI: 10.1177/1065912910391475

 2005 Jan;88(1):174-88.

 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.88.1.174. Effects of implicit power motivation on men's and women's implicit learning and testosterone changes after social victory or defeat Oliver C Schultheiss 1, Michelle M Wirth, Cynthia M wTorges, Joyce S Pang, Mark A Villacorta, Kathryn M Welsh