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Do Cohabiting Women Synchronise Their Menstruation? ..

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SmirnoffMule

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I heave heard it said several times before that, when women spend a lot of time in close proximity to each other, they find their periods tend to sychronise. Basically, I was wondering if anyone could shed anymore light on this phenomenon? Is it actually true, or is it an urban myth? If it is true, why is it true? What possible evolutionary advantage could there be in it, and, even more importantly, how do your respective bodies know?

I've discovered recently an odd alignment with the two women I work with; I'm close friends with one of them, and see the other fairly frequently socially too (small community I live in) but I didn't think we really spent that much time together. We tend to talk about fairly initimate things, so we generally know when we're all on, but how the heck does knowing consciously translate itself on such a primitive level? Is it some pheromone or something, or is it sheer coincidence, because I've been intimate, shall we say, with other ladies, and never altered my rhythms a jot for it?

Any thoughts?
 
Menstrual Synchrony

I used to share a house with a friend a number of years ago and we found that our cycles became synchronised.

She recently realised something was amiss when she rang me about 3 months ago to ask if I was 'on'.

I was, she wasn't.

Cue positive pregnancy test and Q becoming an Auntie for the Nth time.
 
Have never been in the situation for long enough to test it - would need several cycles/months to adjust I assume? but it's often been a topic of discussion when settling into things like dorms or lets for digging.

I /do/ know that having some very MALE chap about leaking hormones all over the place can shorten cycles :D

NB that's not neccessarily the same as fanciable, shaggable, marryable or anything else.... nor does it have anything to do with wanting to breed at that particular moment!

Kath
 
stonedoggy said:
I /do/ know that having some very MALE chap about leaking hormones all over the place can shorten cycles :D

NB that's not neccessarily the same as fanciable, shaggable, marryable or anything else.... nor does it have anything to do with wanting to breed at that particular moment!

Kath
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Ah! Now if this is true, it would explain a fair bit about the current state of my womb.
 
I know it works in the shortening direction having been checked out for suspected ovarian cysts but it was mittelsmerschen (er...... how do you spell it?????) and this blasted chap!

(bless his wee cotton sockies :D )

Don't know if it lengthens.... having a complete dearth of even vaguely breedable with chaps about....

Is there a male equivalent? I'd say no but don't want to prejudge :rofl:

Kath
 
To be honest I'm one of these women who has a horror of discussing womens things with other women, I have no idea of the veracity of ths urban myth therefore :).
 
actually I couldn't possible IRL... I'm always on the edge of the conversation with my ears pricked up.

It's ok here tho..... one of the advantages of a virtual space :)

Kath
 
Messalina: I can empathise with what you are saying :D i.e. I can't believe I have just Googled on this but in my own experience it has been that I have synchronised with other women. Whether this was coincidence or what I don't know, seems like there is very little research out there on the subject. What info is about seems to suggest it does occur,

Some more info for you Slytherin, hope it is of use :)


Most women have either heard of or experienced the phenomenon of bleeding in synch with their fellow sisters. But what causes it? And how does it affect your fertility?

There is very little scientific research on this topic so it is difficult to arrive at one definitive answer. It is probably a combination of factors that has changed and evolved over the centuries.

Think back to when we lived tribally thousands of years ago with no artificial lighting. In these natural surroundings it was highly probable that women ovulated together on the full moon and bled on the dark moon. Thus they usually gave birth at the Full moon, creating more individuals with this particular lunar fertility blueprint.

This model for the menstrual cycle is traditionally offerred as the most common because it was the norm for thousands of years. I speak of this in the Fertility Freedom ebook, the theory that this model of cycling offers the most positive chances for physical fertility based on the rising and falling energy of the moon throughout the month.

But of course these days, we live in the world of artificial light. We no longer are born just on Full moons - but on every phase and degree in the whole cycle. What effect does menstrual synchrony have on our own personal lunar blueprint? If your natural lunar fertile time is the first quarter what happens when you start getting in synch with women who ovulate at the third quarter? Using the theories of lunar fertility - you would have two fertile times a month instead of one. In this way synchronisation to other women may not be of benefit. But what if you are having trouble conceiving or suffer irregularity? Hanging out with pregnant women or synchronising to regular women could have positive effects on your cycle outweighing the benefit of being in tune to your own individual rhtythm.

Women also cycled together for the benefit of the tribe. Consider the practise of the Moonhut in some native cultures. At bleeding, women would gather together away from other members of the tribe to meditate, pray and receive guidance. Women doing this work together would have made this time more powerful due to thier combined collective energy. When their bleeding was over, these women would return to the tribe and offer guidance and advice based on their experiences. In this case it was more powerful for women to cycle together.
What about physical fertility and survival? In a tribal environment - people have to cooperate for the success of the tribe. If women are having babies together they can support and help each other through that time. For example if one mother becomes ill and could not nurse her child, another new mother could take over feeding her baby. Martha McClintock sites studies on pheromones and rats that point to this survival mechanism in humans. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s11122.htm Article by Martha McClintock

Of course in modern society we live in a less tribally and more isolated way. Women now often live in nuclear families and certainly don't seem to have the experience with extended family/tribal living that they used to. In some ways our survival is less dependant upon the women around us than the men around us.

But it would appear that our bodies still respond to this instintive cue to cycle together. When groups of women live together, work together or play together, if we have good friends that give us emotional support then these are the women we will synchronise to.

It would seem menstrual synchrony is some sort of survival mechanism for women. Women are naturally group or tribal minded. We relate to each other in very different ways to the ways men relate. I remember reading a book on female intelligence ( The First Sex by Helen Fisher) that spoke of the ways the female brain is wired, the way we behave and operate to stay connected and gain the approval of our female tribe members. Being cast out was akin to death. Could it be that cycling together protected our marraiges and social bonds? Perhaps if we were all fertile at the same time it lessened the chance of infidelity resulting in more children than the tribe could care for or children that the tribe would reject for cultural or social reasons.
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taken from here: http://www.menstruation.com.au/periodpages/menstrualsynchrony.html
 
just thinking here.....

so if it happens, how long does it take to adjust?

and how long to de-adjust when you leave the group... if you do?

am trying to think what groups in my experience might be askable....

* students don't dorm anymore, it's sep rooms.... what are the limits?

* do nurses hostels still exist?

* nuns

* multiple wives

any other ideas?

Kath
 
Melf that's a peach of a thread..... I even posted on it! memory like a sieve me :)


I was very taken with Keyser Soze's musings on if a male cycle would be altered by that of the associated female....

which would mean in the context of this thread that if all the women got into step then....

Kath
 
It's been about 7 years since the house share that was for 2 years or so but we had been friends before that time. So we were still in sync even though she had had kids in that time.

I also noticed it happening in my ex-work place, I used to see my colleagues more than I did my own family and friends at one point due to the long shifts and constant staff shortages.

But again, I don't know whether this was coincidence.



BTW nice to see you posting again Stonedoggy :)
 
It has never happened to me. Considering I've worked in offices where they has only been three women (including me) and now, an office with about 50 women, that's probably not a bad thing.

Personally, I think it's an UL. I think it's playing the odds. When you consider the 28 day cycle, and women being 'on' for between 3-7 days, there's a fair chance there will be a cross over. Anyway, how does it work when someone's on the pill??? :confused:

So - all a load of tosh/total coincidence gets my vote! :D
 
I've read about this but it's never happened to me as far as I know.

Well, I say that now, but when I had two daughters living at home I'd notice that one or another of them would run out of 'supplies' around the time I needed them.

I didn't look into this because I wanted my daughters to have their privacy. In my experience (remember how old I am!) public discusson of menstruation can be a way of humiliating girls and young women.

Anyone remember Germaine Greer on TV challenging a male psychologist, who said he could tell when any woman was menstruating, to say whether she was or not? :D
 
This happened to me and my (ex) best mate. We knocked about together for a fair few years and eventually it got to the stage where we were synchronised to within about 6 hours of each other. Fascinating really....
 
In graduate school, I lived in an women's dormitory that had showers, sleeping porch, and kitchen all shared by more than 30 women. Classes started in September, and, by February, better than 50 percent of us had synced. (We found out because we started borrowing supplies from each other at about the same time.)

Some women synced by having a few periods close together, others by having periods further apart.

We were mostly math and science students, so many of us were the kind of people who kept statistics about almost anything.

I suspect that there is a tipping point for the number of women who have to be living together since I've never been in a household of three or fewer women who've synced.

Anyone check this with the army?
 
I know two women with nuclear meltdown PMS I dread to think what'd happen if they lived together and got in sync with each other :eek!!!!: :eek!!!!: :eek!!!!:
 
I lived with a particular female roommate for two years and she synchronized with me. I phrase it that way because I was on the Pill and therefore not about to shift around, so she adapted to my cycle, it seemed. (it was just the two of us in the house, btw)
 
I've definately found that living with a house full of girls that the bin in the bathroom always filled up at the same time every month, so it's definately not an urban legend.
 
LobeliaOverhill said:
I know two women with nuclear meltdown PMS I dread to think what'd happen if they lived together and got in sync with each other :eek!!!!: :eek!!!!: :eek!!!!:
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My sister and I both have PMS that goes way beyond nuclear meltdown and we live together and it can be hell. We are in sync and so is my six year old daughter and post menopausal mother (in moods anyway)!!!!!

At least my two sons will know all about PMS and hopefully will be fully trained in all handling aspects by the time they get a girlfriend, or be put off for life.

I have another question though, does everyone else get really hungry the week before? We call it hungry week and I am trying to ascertain whether it's just and excuse to eat or is real.
 
Elffriend said:
I have another question though, does everyone else get really hungry the week before? We call it hungry week and I am trying to ascertain whether it's just and excuse to eat or is real.
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I don't get noticably hungrier before, although I do during. I do find I get weird pregnancy-type cravings the week before, for things like gherkins and olives. If anyone else gets that too, I'd like to know I'm normal, because my friends think it's a bit freakish.
 
I think I do. I don't always notice. I seem to crave carbohydrates more, I think.
 
My (gay) son has spent this last university year sharing a flat with two (straight) ladies so I will ask him what he thinks! :D
 
My wife had a partial hysterectomy about 12 years ago (ovaries intact). About a year ago she began getting regular tummyaches. Turns out that they coincided with the periods of her new workmate. They often joked about it.
The workmate moved to another shift, and the tummyaches stopped. Extraordinary.
 
stonedoggy said:
MALE ...leaking hormones
Click to expand...

{ Must resist tempation to make this my new title on the FTMB }

:eek: :D
 
It could be a remnant of when we lived in tribes and were more open to attack from predators catching the scent of blood. Much better to have the ladies of the tribe all getting it out of the way at the same time. Especially in the days when we were all nomadic, less chance of being tracked that way I suppose.
It's just a theory.

EDIT.
Sorry that's already been said before.
 
I have another question though, does everyone else get really hungry the week before? We call it hungry week and I am trying to ascertain whether it's just and excuse to eat or is real.
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Oh, it's real, baby. :D I also get the stereotypical chocolate cravings. A good friend of mine, who was very into homeopathy, told it meant I was craving B vitamins and I should have some liver instead. Since I love liver and onions, this was no hardship at all and damned if I didn't feel better. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion, or just getting nutritious food in my bloated tummy, but it did help.
 
So now its well documented, any ideas about how the two bodies become synchronised?
 
Pheremones, from what I've read (it's called menstrual synchrony, fwiw). I wonder if there's any significance as to who adapts to whom? Does one woman set the lead, so to speak, or do they all change to some sort of happy medium?
 
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