Do Women’s Menstrual Cycles Really Sync? A Scientific Update

Natural Womanhood Fertility Awareness Based Methods FABM FAM Natural Family Planning NFP Periods Syncing Cycle Women Living Together Community Charting Menstrual Cycle Women Groups menstrual synchrony, menstrual cycle, menstrual, menstrual health, menstrual synchronization, fertility awareness, fertility awareness based methods, fertility charting, fertility, charting your cycle, period, women's health, charting your menstrual cycle, period calendar, period synchronization

Sophomore year of college, I moved into a suite with six other young women. Before we’d finished unpacking, one of my roommates announced that her cycle was dominant and before we knew it, we’d all be in sync with her menstrual cycle. In other words, we’d all get our period on the same day of the month that she did. We laughed a little, but a few weeks later . . . it seemed like she was right.

The purported phenomenon is called “menstrual synchrony,” and it was first recognized in a 1971 study by Martha McClintock, published in Nature. Though period synchronization is a fascinating concept, the validity of that study has been challenged with arguments about sample size and accurate reporting.

In the decades since, some researchers have claimed to reproduce McClintock’s results, while others’ experience suggests it can’t be done. If there is something to menstrual synchrony, it could be linked to a pheromone, though what exactly that pheromone is has yet to be discovered.

Understanding Our Cycles

To properly consider the possibility of one woman’s menstrual cycle influencing another’s simply by spending time together, we first need to understand the natural variations of a cycle. A “regular” cycle lasts 28-35 days, with 3-5 days of bleeding during menstruation. An “irregular” cycle can be shorter or longer. In certain situations, women can go months without having a cycle, though this is typically a sign of another underlying condition.

In order to make a realistic examination of synchrony, let’s assume two women have regular, 28-day cycles that are totally separate and uninfluenced by each other. These two women could only be out of sync, that is, not simultaneously menstruating, for 14 days of the month. One researcher argues that on average, onset is only seven days apart and statistically half the time, will be even closer. Roommates or coworkers who claim to have synchronized menstrual cycles also may have their periods at the same time, without having started on the same day. So it can seem like menstrual synchrony is more of a remarkable phenomenon than it actually is.

Even if two women start their period on the same day, there’s a great deal that can influence the lengths of the various phases of their cycles. So much about our environment and lifestyle plays a role in how our bodies function day to day. Diet, exercise, sleep, and stress all contribute to the hormonal shifts that trigger the phases of our cycles.

Honoring Our Individuality

Charting your cycle with a Fertility Awareness-Based Method (FABM) means you can see, right on your charting page, period calendar, or in your app, how the factors of your life impact both your reproductive system and your overall health. Science has proven for sure that what you eat, how you sleep, and how much you move impacts the hormones in your body responsible for regulating your cycle, no matter what other ladies you may live with.

Truly, every woman’s cycle is different, a reflection of how she was made and how she lives her life, even if it sometimes seems to line up with the girl down the hall. Choosing a method that fits well with your lifestyle—whether that’s daily temperature checks, checking hormone levels with a monitor, observing cervical mucus, or some combination thereof—is a way to honor the body that is uniquely and beautifully yours.

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