Reset your monthly timer

[Lovemyfaith]

I was just reading in Good Housekeeping’s Quick and Simple magazine (2/26/2008) the following: Tired of unpredictable periods? Try this trick from Michael Smolensky, Ph.D. author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health. Place a bare 100-watt lightbulb 3 feet from the head of your bed, and leave it lit while you sleep on days 13 through 17 of your cycle (day 1 is the first day of your period). “Menstrual cycles are strongly affected by nighttime moonlight exposure”, Smolensky explains. “And when women mimic a midcycle full moon in their bedrooms, they often start menstruating like clockwork.” Experts at University of California at San Diego found this tweak can regulate even severely erratic cycles in just three months!

I know family member who suffer with unpredictable cycles and it is really difficult for them, so I am going to suggest this and see how it works!

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Interesting. I’m not sure my DH would want to sleep with the lights on though.

 

[1ke]

For further reading on this subject I suggest you get the booklet from One More Soule entitled The Effects of Light On The Menstrual Cycle: Also Infertility by Joy DeFelice RN

I would also suggest the book Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Ed Dewan, who was in graduate school with me, started research into this in the 60’s with the girls at Smith College. Some of his results were quite good, but he some that did not fit. I lost touch with him and never heard how it came out.

The theory was that in prehistoric times it would have been safer to have relations either on moonlit nights or dark nights . Thus the cycle locked to the moon to ensure maximum fertility at the safest time for relations.

 

[Lovemyfaith]

It bothers me that doctors don’t try things like this before shoving bc pills down women’s throats. I bet women ages ago had a better idea of fertility times than we highly educated ambitious women of today.

 

[puzzleannie]

well it is true that disrupted sleep cycles can also disrupt the periodic cycle, so if this helps, maybe it works. I have also read that in primitive societies, all the women of the village have their periods in sync but don’t know if it is really true, but if so, suppose it has to do with natural waning and waxing of lunar light. would it need to be some special kind of lightbulb to simulate that light? or you could sleep with the curtains open on the nights of the full moon

 

[Good_Daughter]

Ed Dewan, who was in graduate school with me, started research into this in the 60’s with the girls at Smith College. Some of his results were quite good, but he some that did not fit. I lost touch with him and never heard how it came out.

His study is mentioned in the Couple to Couple League manual The Art of Natural Family Planning. A nurse by the name of Joy DeFelice apparently wrote a book on her own further study of his work. CCL points out that DeFelice did not start with women who had previously recorded irreular cycles.

CCL did a small study of their own on women with irregular cycles. They found 22 of 24 women were helped by some night lighting (they suggest a leaving a closet light on, for example) on cycle days 14 through 17. This seems like something a normal woman might attempt rather than that nasty-sounding 100 watt bulb experiment!

 

[JustAnotherThou]

well it is true that disrupted sleep cycles can also disrupt the periodic cycle, so if this helps, maybe it works. I have also read that in primitive societies, all the women of the village have their periods in sync but don’t know if it is really true, but if so, suppose it has to do with natural waning and waxing of lunar light. would it need to be some special kind of lightbulb to simulate that light? or you could sleep with the curtains open on the nights of the full moon

There is a term for this. I don’t remember it, although it is also common among college sororities, all women dorm rooms, and from what my aunt told me even in convents (she is a nun)

 

[Joe_Kelley]

His study is mentioned in the Couple to Couple League manual The Art of Natural Family Planning. A nurse by the name of Joy DeFelice apparently wrote a book on her own further study of his work. CCL points out that DeFelice did not start with women who had previously recorded irreular cycles.

CCL did a small study of their own on women with irregular cycles. They found 22 of 24 women were helped by some night lighting (they suggest a leaving a closet light on, for example) on cycle days 14 through 17. This seems like something a normal woman might attempt rather than that nasty-sounding 100 watt bulb experiment!

Thanks for the update - Joe

 

[1ke]

A nurse by the name of Joy DeFelice apparently wrote a book on her own further study of his work. CCL points out that DeFelice did not start with women who had previously recorded irreular cycles.

You can get the paper she wrote at www.omsoul.com.

It’s very interesting, as it also covers the topic of *infertility *and how blacking out a room during certain times can overcome some issues.

 

[cecilia97]

There is a term for this. I don’t remember it, although it is also common among college sororities, all women dorm rooms, and from what my aunt told me even in convents (she is a nun)

I believe this…when I worked in offices full of cubicles and people jammed in close proximity, all our periods would get out of whack when a new women would join the group.