Period syncing, out of sync?

Period syncing- a phenomenon where you know that menstruators living under the same roof bleed together, hence stay together! At some point of our lives, we may recall having our menstrual cycle synced up with a close friend.

“These cramps don’t seem to get any better, do they?” “Cramps? Wait, you’re on your period too?” This is a very common scenario and let’s be honest, we feel at ease to have a friend in such days. The term first came up in 1971. It suggested that women living together might be influenced by some factors thereby menstruating at the same time. Martha McClintock, a psychologist did her studies and this synchronization effect got to be known as the ‘McClintock Effect’.

According to McClintock, synced period was the result of spending time together. She also suggested a theory of the ‘alpha uterus’! An alpha uterus is like the boss lady who commands and gets all fellow uteruses to cause mischief in unison. This, is caused by pheromones, since the menstruators are in physical proximity. Studies about this theory have shown that a considerable percentage of menstruators believe in this. But this study sparked debates in the scientific community. As much as menstruators want to believe their periods synchronize, the scientific community remain divided due to the lack of solid evidence. Statistics says that the difference in cycles actually grow, meaning they never were in sync. It’s a matter of time, that causes periods to coincidentally synchronize and may overlap and diverge as cycle lengths differ.