This can give the false impression of synchronicity, and could be the reason why many people report their period syncing with others at some point in their lives. Clue uses gender neutral language to help you track your cycle and health.
What if you get your period and you are also dating someone with a period, and you live together? Is it more likely that you will sync? We asked cohabiting lesbian, queer and trans couples about their experiences. Here's what they had to say:. Much is made of the idea of people with menstrual cycles 'syncing up' and it seems like often it's used as yet another way to dismiss mainly women when they are menstruating.
My partner and I don't experience many adverse effects of menstruating, and we find that we have times when we have our period at the same time, but usually we don't.
We're both slightly irregular, we think probably due to not needing or using contraception, so it makes sense that after several months of not being the same we would be the same for a bit. There are only so many days in a month so it makes sense that sometimes you will have the same days as the people around you!
My cycle is very short but regular. Hers is regular but longer. The one time we started our period on the same day both or our cycles changed length and after that we have never been in sync again. I have only heard anecdotal evidence of friends who have seemingly synced with their sisters, but I did find it slightly surprising that there was no evidence at all in your study for synchronization.
Some academics recently decided to find out if the findings of synchronicity of periods could be put down to chance. They looked at six years' worth of data of the menstrual cycles of our close cousins, baboons. Where the patterns are explained by chance. The researchers compared how much each model would account for the data being observed.
They found that the model assuming that patterns would appear by chance was the best model by far. More research could be carried out in the future that does reveal evidence that women's periods sync. But currently many researchers are sceptical. Additional reporting by Elizabeth Cassin. Image source, iStock. Find out more.
Image source, Getty Images. Did the idea of synchronised menstruation reflect the emergence of the feminist movement in the s? Image source, Science Photo Library. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Stemming from a study published in Nature , the menstrual synchronization myth — called the McClintock Effect — suggests that pheromones or other factors can influence and shift periods for women who live together.
The results, based on observations of Wellesley College students, have long been questioned. Besides moon phases, researchers wondered if human pheromones and periods can be linked together. That women synchronize to each other, however, is a myth. Subsequent studies from the last couple of decades continue to suggest that menstrual syncing with people around you is not a likely occurrence.
First, the study of college students we mentioned earlier demonstrated that:. Then, 11 years later, researchers from a period-tracking app alongside Oxford University collected digital data from app users in a pilot study to observe changes in cycle length and occurrences of period syncing versus diverging.
FYI, this pilot study hasn't been published anywhere but the app's blog so far. After receiving over 1, responses and narrowing it down to pairs of users whose cycles occurred at similar times, they tracked three consecutive cycles for each pair.
Here are their most significant findings:. Side note: We're thrilled to catch a glimpse of all the possibilities that can come from opting into research with a period-tracking app. As the Cleveland Clinic tells us, period syncing often comes down to a simple matter of time, rather than any kind of biological phenomenon. Hormonal birth control , stress , medications, health conditions, and disordered eating can all interrupt your usual cycle.
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