Re: Menstrual cycle and the Moon

[John M <***>]

Judith,
when I wrote my sci-fi about the development of humankind, I made a part on
"numbers invention and quantity discovering"
in which the burden was on women, spending more time together and
discovering the lunar and feminine coincidences.
Prediction of the next menstruation and birthtime prevailed.
I also read something that in abhorring detentions groups of women got
adjusted in their menstrual timing (if any).
Referring to Steve J's points:
Males probably spent more hunting time in moon-lit nights when they could
see better.
The primordial water-life would not explain the differences between existing
and nonewxisting menstrual cycles of diverse species - all from the same
water-base. However the "Aquatic
Ape" theory (Elaine Morgan's book: is a must) gives insight. \
You certainly will love the book of this Oxford professor.

On the psych effect of the moon I have only astrological comments - not for
this list, since I did not (yet) link the metaphoricity of the field into
natural sciences.

John M
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judith Rosen" <***>
To: <***>
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 9:44 AM
Subject: Re: Menstrual cycle and the Moon


> It's not off-topic at all. In fact, it's right on topic because it's in
the
> paper I'm writing for BioTheory about Anticipation and Complexity. I think
> the synchrony of many biological cycles (including the human menstrual
> cycle) with lunar cycles is another example of time and context encoded
into
> the organization of living systems.
>
> The fact that we have waking and sleeping cycles that roughly mirror the
day
> and night cycles our planet goes through as it spins on its axis; that
there
> are seasonal cycles  which roughly mirror the orbital cycle of our planet
> around the sun... these are all examples of time and evolutionary context
as
> encoded into the organization. Time is one kind of context. The physical
> environment is another. As those two things interact, they generate things
> like "change", "sequence", "rate"... Living systems are systems which
> somehow encode all of that within their own organization, and so they
> interact with both time and physical environment-- and they do it in
direct
> ways and indirect ways. By indirect, I mean that their encoded information
> (about evolutionary environment through time) interacts with the actual
> environment through time. It's also worth noting that their encoded
> information about sequence, rate, change, etc also interacts with "real
> time". All of this is what my father was referring to when he spoke of "an
> internal predictive model".
>
> Judith
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Johnson" <***>
> To: <***>
> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 7:52 PM
> Subject: [ROSEN] Menstrual cycle and the Moon
>
>
> > Sorry if this is off topic. I was browsing Rosen
> > archives and among other things I read Judith's
> > comment regarding how Rosen always pointed out the
> > things that nobody knows.
> >
> > As an example she mentioned the sychronization of
> > menstrual cycles among female housemates. As I was
> > thinking about it I also started wondering why the
> > length of the human menstrual period coincides with
> > that of the lunar cycle. This is such a basic human
> > experience that I was sure that this was well
> > researched and explained. To my astonishment my trusty
> > Google search turned up mostly new age drivel and few
> > scientific articles no matter how I composed my search
> > query. The only two somewhat logical suggestions (but
> > still very shaky) that I saw were:
> >
> > 1) In the evolutionary environment the ovulation
> > period coincided with the dark phase so that women's
> > sexual desire was least when the moon is bright thus
> > putting pressure on the males to spend less time on
> > mating and more on hunting while the moon was bright.
> >
> > 2) Some vague statements that all life was marine in
> > the beginning and thus affected by the tides caused by
> > moon's gravity. The connection with the homo sapiens
> > menstrual cycle was left to the reader.
> >
> > What are the leading evolutionary explanations for why
> > the menstrual cyclce coincides in length with the
> > lunar one? I would appreciate any pointers.
> >
> > P.S.  I also stumbled on several women's medical
> > discussion board where many women commented on
> > increased anxiety and stress caused by the full moon.
> > Any established explanations for this?
> >
> > - Steve
> >
> >
> >
> >
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