Can you sync your cycle to the Moon?
You may have heard there's a correlation between your cycle and the moon and this goes back to ancient times when it's though most women would:
👉Ovulate with the full moon 🥚🌕
👉Menstruate with the new moon 🩸🌑
It's also thought that medicine women, midwives and sages would have opposite cycles, ovulating with the new moon and menstruating with the full moon.
For about a year my cycle had reflected this, ovulating with the new moon and menstruating with the full moon.
Recently things have changed for me. After both my C-vax's my cycle was a bit longer, which moved me out of sync with the moon. It’s normal for ovulation to be delayed due to stress and the vax was stressful on my body. Delayed ovulation can be caused by travel, general stress and sickness.
It's been quite a few months since the vax and it looks like I'm now syncing up and ovulating with the full moon.
But why am I one of these women who seem to have their cycle synced to the moon?
A study from the mid 80's showed 28% of women had their cycles syncing to the moon[1]. A study done in 2021 showed no correlation between the moon and the menstrual cycle[2].
So what's going on?
Well, just as our circadian rhythm is governed by the light of the sun 👉 awake when the sun is up and asleep when the sun goes down. So too is there a correlation between our infradian rhythm (our menstrual cycle) and the light of the moon.
Our menstrual cycles are about a month long and the moon cycle is also about a month long, 29.5 days to be exact.
The thing about our modern lives is that moon light is barley ever registered by our eyes and skin. We live in houses, shielding ourselves from moon light and turn our house lights on when the sun goes down. This kind of light exposer disrupts both our circadian and infradian hormones.
🌞 Circadian hormones 👉 cortisol & melatonin
🌝 Infradian hormones 👉 estrogen, FSH, LH, testosterone & progesterone
I am a nerd when it comes to hormones, so I do my best to avoid too much light exposer at night. When the sun goes down I put on my Elton John inspired blue light blocking glasses. We generally only have one light on in the house and when watching TV we make sure to turn it off at least an hour before bed.
On top of this I love to moon bathe. Especially when it's cold outside, I love to sauna at night. Which means 15 minutes of heat in the sauna followed by 15 minutes of cold, laying on the grass being showered in moon light. This is what I attribute my cycles syncing to the moon with.
Now, you probably don't have a sauna in the backyard but you CAN get outside and look at the moon, especially when it's a full moon once a month. Can you turn off the TV a hour before bed. And you could invest in some blue light blocking glasses.
It's important for me to point out:
You can have healthy, happy hormones without syncing your cycle to the moon.
Syncing your life to your cycle is way more supportive of your hormones. This means resting when you're in your menstrual phase and supporting your hormones with diet and exercise through the different phases of your cycle.
If you want to sync your cycle to the moon I’d suggest simply setting the intention. Greet the moon as often as you can and reduce your blue light exposure at night.
If you want to know more about your hormones and how to balance them naturally, download my eBook now! It’s free and has 22 practical step for balanced hormones.
Law S. P. (1986). The regulation of menstrual cycle and its relationship to the moon. Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 65(1), 45–48. https://doi.org/10.3109/00016348609158228
Komada, Y., Sato, M., Ikeda, Y., Kami, A., Masuda, C., & Shibata, S. (2021). The Relationship between the Lunar Phase, Menstrual Cycle Onset and Subjective Sleep Quality among Women of Reproductive Age. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(6), 3245. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063245
