To find it sad that our menstrual cycles are losing touch with the moon?

[Beachtastic]

OK, bit of a weird one, but this article published last month in Science Advances ("Synchronization of women’s menstruation with the Moon has decreased but remains detectable when gravitational pull is strong"), concludes that the increase of light pollution, and exposure to artificial light at night, has weakened the connection of our menstrual cycle with lunar cycles. It ends with "Because menstrual cycle length appears to be an age-dependent marker of female fertility, our findings may prove to be relevant not only to human physiology and behavior but also to fertility and contraception."

This makes me feel sad, a bit like finding out that turtle reproduction is messed up by artificial light because the hatchlings navigate to the water using the natural reflection of the moon and stars on the ocean’s surface. Instead of heading for the sea, they head for the local bar!

The effect on human reproduction is obviously less catastrophic, but still worth noting. The abstract says:
To increase reproductive success, many species synchronize reproductive behavior with a particular phase of the lunar cycle. The human menstrual cycle has also a period close to that of the lunar cycle, and recent studies suggest a temporary synchrony between menstrual and lunar cycles. Nevertheless, lunar influence on human reproductive behavior remains controversial. Here, we analyzed long-term menstrual records of individual women from the past 24 years and compared them with records from the past century. We show that women’s menstrual cycles recorded before the introduction of light-emitting diodes in 2010 and the extensive use of smart phones significantly synchronized with the Moon, while those after 2010 coupled to the Moon mostly in January. We hypothesize that the high gravimetric forces between the Moon, Sun, and Earth every January are sufficient for this coupling, while the increasing exposure to artificial light at night impinges on synchrony at other times.

Free PDF download from the link below, for anyone who understands science better than I do!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4096

It seems a small price to pay for living indoors, having electricity and advances in medicine. I've made my peace with it.

Sorry to disappoint you op but it is a complete myth that menstral cycles are effected by the moon....

Our cycles don't sinc up with each other when we live together either. Sorry 😐

Absolutely correct

um… if that’s literally the only thing making you sad right now, I’d say you’re doing great!

OP it is a fascinating subject , please ignore the joyless puritans on here who seem so blinkered to the fact that their perspective on life and the natural world is a mere dust speck in history.

are you sure about this one? I went to boarding school and it seemed to be true…

I agree it's a shame but I think for human beings the widespread of hormonal contraception is more of an issue than light pollution tbf. I think it's a shame that we're losing our connections with nature generally, e.g. the cycles of not just the moon but the seasons, the ability to read the weather or the landscape, etc. There is lots of good writing about all of this stuff. If you want to live more naturally you can in many ways, even in the modern world. Harder if you're a turtle obviously.

Humans tend to see patterns everywhere even when they aren't there. You notice when both your house mates are moaning about their cycle when you are on yourself, you don't remember when you aren't. It's confirmation bias.

I don't know why you are asking me, there's been plenty of research on the subject.

Jesus, what a load of pish.

Are you sure? I can find plenty of confirmation of it in peer-reviewed publications, such as this 2024 article in Fertility and Sterility, "The menstrual cycle is influenced by weekly and lunar rhythms."

It's not exactly "woo" to think that something that exerts such massive pull on Earth's ocean tides would also have some subtle influence on the animals living on it, and that there might be a biological/reproductive reason for this.

https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(23)02076-9/fulltext

I too went to an all girls boarding school and found it not to be true so the jury's out on that one

Honestly seriously who has the time to give to worry about our menstrual cycles not being linked to lunar cycles. Sorry I realise people are allowed to worry about and have feelings for anything that takes their fancy but this one is very far from my radar.

They really do!

Because its just another disconnection from nature. Why wouldnt you care?

Nope. It's not true. It's just maths. A bit like thinkng our cycles are affected by the moon 🙄

This is junk science. The lunar cycle is 28 days precisely. Women's menstrual cycles can be anything - 21 days isn't particularly shocking though less than that would be rare except in perimenopause, 35 days isn't particularly shocking though more than that would be rare except in perimenopause. Cycle lengths can change after pregnancy even if they were very regular at a particular frequency before the pregnancy. The number of women whose cycle is close enough to 28 days that they could ever have synchronised with the moon will be small despite that being the average. Very few mammalian species menstruate. Of the ones that do, the cycle length is around 10 days in the spiny mouse, 13 days in the Elephant Shrew and between 21 and 27 days in the particular species of bat that menstruates. Other mammals that have non-menstruating oestrus cycles will come into heat on cycles that may vary from once a year (or more rarely even) to perhaps 8 times a year, while other mammals can be fertile at literally any time at all when they are not already pregnant. The link to the moon's periodicity in humans is irrelevant coincidence.

More concerning is how taking the pill can make your body attracted to men who have similar genetics, which our natural bodies have evolved to avoid to increase resilience in our offspring.

🤣🤣I like the cut of your jib.

No, they don't. A certain percentage of females will always have coincidental cycles. The more females in the group, the more it seems they're connected.

A bit like birthdays - in a group over a certain number, two people will be verly likely to have the same birthday.

Probabilities and maths are your friends here!

This, really. I thought it was interesting and rather sad, but posted in AIBU knowing that I would be torn to shreds by teeth and nails! 😂

Well, I'm 51 and my periods still come like clockwork every 28 days. I can predict it to the day.

Mine were roughly 32 days long, so I was never properly connected with the moon/nature 😭

Anytime mine want to disconnect they're welcome!

I do agree that, if this is true, then it is a sad disconnect from nature, though.

Can you not correct it by rearranging the furniture and aligning it across a Ley line?