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Hormonal contraceptive use is associated with differences in women’s inflammatory and psychological reactivity to an acute social stressor

A multi-site study of the relationship between photoperiod and ovulation rate using Natural Cycles data

Moving beyond the mean: Promising research pathways to support a precision medicine approach to hormonal contraception

Early life adversity, inflammation, and immune function: An initial test of adaptive response models of immunological programming

A leading researcher in the dynamic and rapidly expanding field of evolutionary psychology Sarah E. Hill completed her PhD at UT Austin and is now a professor at TCU. With more than fifty scientific publications and multiple prestigious research grants to her credit, Dr. Hill has become an authority on evolutionary approaches to psychology and health. She is the author of This Is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences.

76: Sex, Hormones, and Your Brain on Birth Control | Sarah E. Hill, PhD

There’s always a wink and nod when a woman says, “it’s that time of the month.” But why do personalities and craving shift so drastically—especially when on the pill? Sarah E. Hill, research psychologist and professor, Department of Psychology, TCU joins host Krys Boyd to talk about a woman’s body and the most current research (or lack of it) that doctors rely on. Her book is,“This Is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences.”

If You Go Off The Pill, Will You Still Love Your Husband?

If it has never occurred to you that your birth control may be changing the way your brain is functioning, you are not alone. Dr. Sarah Hill is an evolutionary psychologist, researcher, and professor who was on the pill for more than a decade. After coming off the pill Dr. Hill’s life went from grayscale to full color, and she realized that more research into the effects of the birth control on women from the neck up was critically necessary. Not Anti-Birth Control Just Pro-Education This discovery lead Dr. Hill to write her new book, This Is Your Brain on Birth Control, which works to help women understand the gap between the knowledge of women's biochemistry and how birth control affects the way your brain is working.  Dr. Hill is not anti-birth control, but she is pro-education. By helping women understand the affect birth control is having on their brains, she works to help women become active participants in the conversation around birth control and help them make informed decisions about their health and who they want to be. Birth control can play a role in everything from how you select a partner to your mood and your ability to handle stress. Hormones play a massive role in who we are and our experience of the world, and it is only through educating yourself on the role birth control plays in that will you be able to make the decision that is right for you. If you want to learn how birth control is affecting you from the neck up, this is an episode you can't miss.  Have you ever considered how the birth control could be affecting you in ways beyond what your doctor may have told you? Share your birth control experience with us in the comments on the episode page.   On Today's Episode  Exposing the lack of research and knowledge surrounding how the pill affects your brain (16:05) Understanding how the pill functionally and structurally changes women's brains (24:05) Illustrating the role birth control can play in women's sex and stress hormones (32:15) Deconstructing the overall effect of the pill on neurotransmitters in the brain (41:51) How birth control can increase your risk of anxiety, depression, and more (42:30)    Quotes “The spirit of the book is about giving women information and actually allowing us even greater independence and greater agency in terms of making decisions that are informed about who we want to be and about our health.” (11:15) “Another thing I really wanted to do with this book is to make women aware of this in addition to sort of raising some of the questions we should be asking about the way that the pill changes our brains, also letting women know that its time that we need to push science to change what they are doing.” (22:19) “It is all consistent with this idea that the birth control pill may influence women's attunement to things that are sexy and that it might sort of deprioritize or deemphasize women's attunement to these qualities.” (31:42) “We can start talking about what are the research questions that are really critical in terms of being answered next and in terms of allowing women to optimize their birth control and also optimize their lives and their health.” (41:28) “I tolerated the pill really well, but then when I went off of it I had this feeling of transitioning from a two dimensional, black and white sort of grayscale drawing to life, fully vibrant, awake, alive life. And it really was eye-opening to me.” (53:37)   Resources Mentioned In This Show This Is Your Brain on Birth Control by Dr. Sarah Hill Dr. Sarah E Hill Website Follow Dr. Hill on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Order The Core Four Here Nutritional Therapy Association Website Harder to Kill Radio is sponsored by the Nutritional Therapy Association. Registration is now open for the NTA’s October class. You can learn more and save your seat by clicking here (and don’t forget to mention my name on your application!)  You can also try out their free 7-day course, Nutritional Therapy 101 by clicking here. Check out the full show notes here!  Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

This Is Your Brain On Birth Control w/ Dr. Sarah Hill

An eye-opening book that reveals crucial information every woman taking hormonal birth control should know This groundbreaking book sheds light on how hormonal birth control affects women--and the world around them--in ways we are just now beginning to understand. By allowing women to control their fertility, the birth control pill has revolutionized women's lives. Women are going to college, graduating, and entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and there's good reason to believe that the birth control pill has a lot to do with this. But there's a lot more to the pill than meets the eye.Although women go on the pill for a small handful of targeted effects (pregnancy prevention and clearer skin, yay!), sex hormones can't work that way. Sex hormones impact the activities of billions of cells in the body at once, many of which are in the brain. There, they play a role in influencing attraction, sexual motivation, stress, hunger, eating patterns, emotion regulation, friendships, aggression, mood, learning, and more. This means that being on the birth control pill makes women a different version of themselves than when they are off of it. And this is a big deal. For instance, women on the pill have a dampened cortisol spike in response to stress. While this might sound great (no stress!), it can have negative implications for learning, memory, and mood. Additionally, because the pill influences who women are attracted to, being on the pill may inadvertently influence who women choose as partners, which can have important implications for their relationships once they go off it. Sometimes these changes are for the better . . . but other times, they're for the worse. By changing what women's brains do, the pill also has the ability to have cascading effects on everything and everyone that a woman encounters. This means that the reach of the pill extends far beyond women's own bodies, having a major impact on society and the world. This paradigm-shattering book provides an even-handed, science-based understanding of who women are, both on and off the pill. It will change the way that women think about their hormones and how they view themselves. It also serves as a rallying cry for women to demand more information from science about how their bodies and brains work and to advocate for better research. This book will help women make more informed decisions about their health, whether they're on the pill or off of it.

This Is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Dr. Sarah E. Hill earned her PhD in evolutionary psychology at the University of Texas at Austin working under Dr. David Buss. She is currently a researcher and professor at TCU, lead research advisor at 28, and a thought leader in the area of women’s hormones and sexual psychology. Sarah’s groundbreaking research has resulted in more than 80 research publications. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Economist, and on television shows like Good Morning and The Today Show. Most recently, Sarah has authored “This is your brain on birth control: the surprising science of women, hormones, and the law of unintended consequences”, which sheds critical new light on the psychological impact of women’s sex hormones and the birth control pill.

Women's Psychology

Sex Hormones

The Birth Control Pill

Interpersonal Relationships

Menstrual Cycle

Mind-Body Interactions

English

Faculty Profile Page

Lab Webpage

Penguin Random House Author Profile

ResearchGate Citations

Google Scholar Citations

Research Publications

Would You Love the Same Man On and Off the Pill? | Dr. Sarah Hill | EP 403

Episode 213: Revolutionizing Birth Control

'Why I Gave up on Birth Control' | Opinion

Can birth control pills influence the female brain?

Nothing in Health Psychology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution | Invited Colloquium Speaker

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill | Invited Public Address

Success in science is a path paved with self-doubt and failure | Keynote Address

Design and Disorder: The Evolutionary Foundations of the Mental Health Crisis Among Women | Opening Keynote Address

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill | Closing Keynote Address

Pitching and Writing a Popular Science Book: Communicating Science without Getting in the Weeds | Presented Talk

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill

Birth Control as a Grand Challenge | Invited Keynote Address

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill |  Invited Speaker

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill | Invited Speaker

A successful research career is paved with self-doubt and failure | Invited Keynote Address

Sex Hormones, The Female Brain, And The Birth Control Pill | Invited Talk

You don't have to be born a Genius to become one. Follow health and science journalist, New York Times bestselling author, TV personality and nutrition expert Max Lugavere as he speaks to the most insightful minds of our time about what it means to live like a Genius.

The Genius Life

Think is a daily, topic-driven interview and call-in program hosted by Krys Boyd covering a wide variety of topics ranging from history, politics, current events, science, technology and emerging trends to food and wine, travel, adventure, and entertainment.

KERA's Think

The Fuel Your Strength podcast is all about helping women who lift weights get stronger, fuel themselves (without counting every bite of food), perform better in and out of the gym, and take up space. Strength nutrition strategist and weight lifting coach Steph Gaudreau shares how lifting weights is a catalyst for a more expansive life and how to challenge the status quo around nutrition and fitness. This weekly show brings you discussion about building strength without obsessing about food and exercise, lifting weights, food psychology, and more. You'll learn how to eat, train, recover, listen to your body, and step into your strength.

Fuel Your Strength

experts-in-the-media-eating-habits-of-people-who-grew-up-poor

Sarah Hill, Ph.D, professor of psychology helped reporters explore how early life poverty continues to foster food preferences and mental associations around eating.

Professor, Psychology

  Sarah Hill, Ph.D, professor of psychology, contributed insights to an AOL article, “Eating Habits of People Who Grew Up Poor,” exploring how early life poverty continues to foster food preferences and mental associations around eating. The piece examines why many adults raised in low-income households feel “unnatural” when switching from inexpensive comfort foods to fresh produce and how habits formed in scarcity can linger long after financial hardships subside.

Hill emphasizes that these patterns aren’t just personal quirks but deeply ingrained coping strategies.

“For someone who rarely saw fresh fruits or vegetables growing up, the cost, smell, even the way they cut or cook produce, can feel foreign,” she wrote. The article also discusses how scarcity conditioning can lead to behaviors like eating beyond fullness to avoid waste, attachment to “cheap staples” or resistance to change in diet, even when healthy choices are available. Hill argues that recognizing these habits with compassion, as adaptations rather than flaws, is key to promoting lasting healthy change.

 Sarah Hill is currently a researcher and professor at TCU, lead research advisor at 28, and a thought leader in the area of women’s hormones and sexual psychology. Sarah’s groundbreaking research has resulted in more than 80 research publications. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Economist, and on television shows like Good Morning and The Today Show. See her profile here. The full article is available here:

 Looking to know more - simply click on Sarah's icon below to arrange an interview time today.


Experts in the Media: Eating Habits of People Who Grew Up Poor

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down in-person with researcher, professor, and author, Dr. Sarah Hill. They break down sex-based differences in regret, competition, and academia; the balance between life exposure and safeguarding when raising a child; the practice of “mate-choice copying” among women; and why our hormones are a foundational part not just of our physical makeup, but also of who we are and who we have the potential to become.

Dr. Sarah E. Hill is a researcher and professor at TCU and author of “This is your brain on birth control: the surprising science of women, hormones, and the law of unintended consequences”. In addition to being at the forefront of research on women’s sexual psychology, Sarah is also a sought-after speaker, consultant, and media expert in the area of women’s hormones and sexual psychology.

This episode was filmed on November 14th, 2023

Dr. Peterson's extensive catalog is available now on DailyWire+: https://bit.ly/3KrWbS8


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- Links -

For Dr. Sarah Hill:

Website http://www.sarahehill.com

On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahehillphd/?hl=en 

On X https://twitter.com/sarahehillphd?lang=en 

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sarahehillphd2/ 

“Your Brain on Birth Control” (Book)  https://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Birth-Control/dp/0593713915/ref=asc_df_0593713915/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=658806742010&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8951630360526719621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013185&hvtargid=pla-2188306336691&psc=1&mcid=7d514ad8aff23a3b83c3018ff98076d9 


- Chapters -
​​(0:00) Coming up
(0:42) Intro
(1:50) The pill and the hydrogen bomb…
(3:45) The definition of female
(4:46) Your gametes change everything about you
(6:59) Is a woman a single organism?
(8:26) Negative emotion sensitivity and puberty
(11:19) What the process of evolution via selection was designed for, and what it wasn’t
(14:06) Investment strategies and personality predictors, the dark Tetrad
(18:27) Likelihood for feeling regret
(21:00) Your level of investment echoes all the way up the chain
(24:11) Financial success and it’s bearing on attractiveness
(25:40) Why men are willing to elevate and honor other men 
(29:22) Lekking: mating through association
(30:40) Mate choice copying: the perception of hidden amazing qualities
(32:43) Love investment by mothers: old versus young
(36:06) Cultural reasons for the rise of over-invested parents
(42:54) When love eradicates independence
(47:10) An exchange of vicious questions…
(54:02) Recognizing toxic femininity as a woman
(57:51) 1 in 5 women… the Law of Unintended Consequences
(1:01:55) Have the benefits outweighed the cost?
(1:04:45) The most lied to demographic
(1:05:25) Happiness, reward structure, and work-life balance
(1:08:36) 1 in 100: the intersection of disparate traits
(1:14:00) Synthetic hormones impact on the body, the integrated self
(1:17:15) Should we equate a “good” hormonal state with the male default?
(1:20:24) Are the Feminists to blame?
(1:23:43) The two states of ovulation on and off the pill
(1:26:58) Jaw size and attraction in regards to the menstrual cycle
(1:30:14) What women want
(1:31:38) We have no idea how much birth control has impacted politics, but it’s not zero
(1:34:52) Our hormones are supposed to shift
(1:37:43) Dominance and seduction
(1:39:39) Alcohol and violent crime
(1:41:15) The utility of cortisol, and what you trade it for
(1:47:57) Yes, birth control affects the development of your brain
(1:53:18) Male birth control
(1:55:03) Dr. Hill: A Message to My Daughter


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