In an effort to expand our understanding of how birth control affects the brain, neuroscientist Carina Heller from the University of Minnesota took matters into her own hands—literally.
Over 75 sessions in an MRI machine, Heller studied the structural changes in her own brain while taking birth control pills. She hopes her work will help close a research gap in women’s neurological health.
“It was actually not that hard, to be honest, because I knew what I was doing it for,” Heller told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. She’s making her brain data available to scientists worldwide to build on her findings, believing it could help answer key questions about oral contraceptives’ effects on mental health.
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A Lack of Data on Women’s Health
Despite hormonal birth control being widely available since the 1960s, there’s still a shortage of research on its effects on the brain. Heller points out that “although this medication has been around for [decades], this research field is still very small.” While some women report feeling great on birth control, others experience side effects like depression and anxiety, and Heller was curious about why this might be.
A sample of Heller’s brain scans, which she is working to make available to other scientists to incorporate into their own research. (Julian Sergej Benedikt Ramirez, Carina Heller)
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The gap in research on women’s health is often rooted in “androcentric bias,” explains Dr. Annie Duchesne, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia. She notes that medical research has traditionally focused on male bodies, which has left women’s health questions unexplored. “We kind of have this implicit erasure of the needs and questions about other bodies,” Duchesne says.
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The Process of Self-Experimentation
Heller’s self-study follows a long tradition of scientists experimenting on themselves. Each morning, she would start her day in an MRI machine, where she underwent scans over three different periods: before taking birth control, after three months on the pill, and after three months off. To stay calm and awake, she binged familiar shows like Gilmore Girls and Emily in Paris, carefully chosen to avoid too much excitement.
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She scanned her own brain 75 times to study the effects of the birth control pill on women’s health.
That’s dedication to Science! https://t.co/Bi1AIU3UsW@UMNews pic.twitter.com/EeJsMtnzyO
— greenprophet (@greenprophet) October 22, 2024
Scientists have long valued self-experimentation for the unique insights it provides. Duchesne notes that “75 scans is a lot of data points,” especially as Heller’s research covers her brain activity across multiple phases of her menstrual cycle.
However, she warns that findings from a single subject can be limiting, and self-studies carry the risk of researcher bias.
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