Women have long been told that living or dating women for an extended period of time can cause their menstrual cycles to become synchronized.
But gynecologists are on a crusade to dispel this myth, pointing out that the old wives’ tale has no solid scientific basis and actually diminishes a woman’s personality, reducing her to nothing more than her biological imperative to reproduce.
Pop culture, or even personal experience, may have led you to believe that living in your sorority house for the entire school year caused you and your ‘sisters’ to get your period at the same time.
In reality, there is no biological mechanism that causes an alteration in the menstrual cycle of women and the synchronization that they can experience is a completely random phenomenon, the product of random events and complex biological processes.
Dr. Jen Gunter, a Canadian-American gynecologist, called this belief “the biggest myth, saying: ‘First of all, it’s been studied, so we know it doesn’t happen. “We have excellent evidence-based medicine to show that this is not true.”
Still, many people subscribe to the belief.
Dr. Charis Chambers, an OB-GYN practicing in Georgia, said it all comes down to recall bias, “meaning our brains are more likely to remember the times when our periods were in sync and overlook the times.” moments when they didn’t.”
The falsehood has its roots in a 1971 article in the magazine. Naturein which Harvard University psychologist Martha McClintock concluded that women who live or work together synchronize their periods.
The University of Chicago psychologist asked 135 girls living in dorms to remember the start of their last period three times during the school year.
She found that groups of close friends had periods more closely together in April compared to the previous October, suggesting that women living in a dorm tended to synchronize over time.
However, since then, gynecologists have amassed a wealth of scientific research disproving that theory.
Dr. Gunter said, “There’s no biological mechanism for this to happen… And then people say, ‘What about pheromones?’ Actually, no one has ever demonstrated the existence of human pheromones. I know the perfume industry would make you think otherwise.
In addition to being completely false, Dr. Gunter said the myth is far from a harmless old wives’ tale.
Menstrual mythology undermines women’s personhood, perpetuating the misogynistic view that women are little more than the sum of their body parts intended solely for reproduction.
Dr. Gunter said, “This positions women as nurturers who are not in control of their own bodies.” That in some way they can be affected by the flock, who are not thinking beings.
“And I think it’s horrible on that level, but it’s not entirely true.”
Only one rebuttal that debunks the falsehood is a 2006 study in which a Polish anthropologist analyzed women in student dormitories for five months. The research found that in 18 groups of two and 21 groups of three, the women’s menstrual cycles did not synchronize.
Social interactions had no effect, and instead the onset of a woman’s period was influenced by her body mass index and normal cycle irregularity.
The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, but can range from 21 to 35 days and periods can last from two to seven days.
Every woman is different and several factors can influence the menstrual cycle, including weight gain and drastic weight loss, changes in the body’s levels of estrogen and progesterone, stress, chronic illness, drug use, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS).
For most women, the menstrual cycle lasts 28 days and consists of four main stages, although this can vary greatly from woman to woman.
Dr. Charis Chambers, an OB-GYN practicing in Georgia, saying: ‘If we take one person with a period of seven days every 32 days, another with a period of six days every 28 days, a third person with a period of five days every 24 days, and we simply let the periods pass with absolutely no changes applied, over time we will see that they will eventually sync.
‘Now, if we continue with this process, without any period influencing the other, just by chance, we will see them synchronize again.
“And if we allow enough cycles, over time, again, by chance, we can see all three synchronize.”
The real flaw lies in a systematic error known as recall bias, which occurs when a study subject’s ability to accurately remember and report past events becomes defective over time.
Women are more likely to remember the date as an easy-to-remember interval of five, suggesting that women can get the date wrong without realizing it.
A 2000 study examined California birth certificates from 1987 and asked women to mark the start date of their last period.
Certain days of the month (the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 28th) were recorded more frequently than expected.
About 12.9 percent of these records showed a preference for specific numbers.
Number 15 was most commonly engravedwhich appears 2.5 times more frequently than expected, a major confounding factor in research into whether periods started on the same day or not.
Dr. Gunter said, “It’s just math.” If you take two randomly occurring events and line them up, sometimes they will be in sequence and sometimes they will not. And you just remember the moment when you are in sequence.