Are women’s cycles catching waves with monthly tides?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Notice that the Moon waxes and wanes each month? Women’s bodies might be keeping time in a similar way.
Enter Charlotte Helfrich-Förster and team at the University of Padova. This team analyzed about two hundred women’s menstrual cycles from the last forty years.
Previously, menstrual cycles synchronized to lunar events such as the full or new moon. But in 2010, this effect disappeared!
Researchers posit that light pollution and smartphones have weakened this synchrony. I blame Angry Birds and Duolingo.
This shows how environmental changes can influence our biology.
Looks like menstrual cycles remain moonstruck, but not completely ECLIPSED.
Reference: Charlotte Helfrich-Förster et al.,Synchronization of women’s menstruation with the Moon has decreased but remains detectable when gravitational pull is strong.Sci. Adv.11,eadw4096(2025).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adw4096