STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sfcaligirl · Dooney & Bourke

?, this may be TMI....

deadlyjane · BCBG

HeHe. the "ovarian leader" thats hilarious. I dont know the accual name for it but when I worked in a tiny medical office with 7 other women they would constantly talk about it. I didnt believe them at first but after working there for a few months everyone had pms at the same time including me.

jacL · Coach

I think it has to do with hormones...like one woman has her period and the others bodies hormones naturally shift....don't know what its caled though.

RyanJ · Coach

You are lucky. I wish I was like that. I have no idea when I will get my period. There is absolutley no schedule.

theotherjess · Chanel

Lucky! I got mine early last month and now it is going to ruin my camping plans

jaymiek · Coach

what a coincidence you brought this up today because my friend was just asking me about it.
I found this article from wonderquest.com that pretty much explains the whole synchronization thing.

Primitive cues synchronize menstruation

Q: Why do women and girls living together for extended periods have synchronized menstruation? --Douglas Laing, Cali, Columbia

A: Women (and men) secrete odorless molecules, called pheromones, in a manner as common as sweating. In fact, the sweat of many mammals contains pheromone chemicals. The molecules from one woman bounce and jiggle their way airborne and waft to another. Receptors in the nose detect the pheromones and the second woman responds by shortening or lengthening her menstrual period. Gradually, over the course of a few months, the periods of all the women living together synchronize in this way.

[Lund U. Sweden, Peter Valeur] A female moth's pheromones caught in a male's antenna

A study (that determined all this by Martha McClintock and Kathleen Stern) indicates the sweat probably contains two chemicals: one that lengthens menstrual cycles and one that shortens them. The two substances can act together to synchronize the cycles and sometimes to disrupt them.

By the way, similar studies show that men's pheromones also affect women's menstrual periods. Women respond to these pheromones by shortening their periods and having them more regularly.

(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, February 13, 2002)

shopgirl82 · Chanel

sfcaligirl wrote:

idoes anyone know the scientific term for the phenomenon of women in close proximity synchronizing with each other? i used to know it, but i can't for the life of me remember it now. okay i'm off to take some advil.... grrr, cramps, good to see you, it's been too long- 28 days to be exact... alright, i really don't know why i'm posting this.... i blame crazy hormones!

it's called menstrual synchrony (you were close). like jaymiek said, it has to do with pheromones.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

OMG are you the reason I started early this week???

Didn't think hormones could be transmitted via internet.

sfcaligirl · Dooney & Bourke

lsubatgirl wrote:

OMG are you the reason I started early this week??? Didn't think hormones could be transmitted via internet.

hahahaha, maybe i'm the "ovarian leader" of the board too!

bex · Chanel

when i was in college, i was in a sorority and all of us that lived together in the house all had our periods at the same time! it was so strange and awful b/c we were all bitches at the same time each month!

kenzie · Chanel

Haha!! Ovarian leader. That's hilarious. I'm like clockwork, too, only my cycle is 32 days on the dot. I can feel myself ovulate every month, too. I'm a weirdo.