Patterns of eating, exercise, sleep and health were investigated across 180 menstrual cycles of 89 women who engaged in sex with a male (n = 45; cycles = 85), a female (n = 21; cycles = 37) or abstained from sex (n = 33; cycles = 58) from January 2005 to December 2007 (10 contributed to 2 groups). Cycles were divided into 5 phases based on their luteinizing hormone surges. Daily questionnaires and saliva for IgA and cortisol analyses were obtained. Women indicated that they ate more (p < .008) and did not sleep as well (p = .02) during their luteal and premenstrual phases. Participants were less likely to experience food cravings and did not satisfy their cravings when they were ovulatory (p < .001). Additionally, a greater proportion of lesbians skipped breakfast (p = .01) and exercised less than heterosexuals (p = .05). Sexually active women had lower cortisol and IgA levels than abstinent women (p = .02). Our study discovered, and confirmed, systematic differences in eating, sleeping and health patterns across women's menstrual cycles. Keywordslesbian; IgA; cortisol; alcohol; food cravings and abstinence Substantial research has been conducted on changes in women's sexuality across their menstrual cycles (Bullivant et al., 2004), but considerably fewer studies have been conducted on how other behaviors such as eating, exercise, sleep and health vary across the cycle. Additionally, little is known about how women who engage in sex with other women across a menstrual cycle might differ in their health patterns from women who abstain from or engage in sex with men.Fessler (2003) theorized that women ate less and exercised more at ovulation because their behavior was directed towards mating at this time. In contrast, he argued that women increased their feeding behavior during their luteal phases when implantation was likely. His review of the literature supported his theory. Independent research also found that women ate more (Bryant et al., 2006) and reported more food cravings, especially for chocolate (Michener et al., 1999) and carbohydrates (Cohen et al., 1987) during the luteal phase of their cycles, although the chocolate craving may have a cultural origin (Zellner et al., 2004). Sternfeld et al. (2002) found that moderate levels of physical activity were positively correlated with cycle length. However, most research on exercise and the menstrual cycle has been conducted on women athletes (Goodman & Warren, 2005) and is therefore difficult to generalize to other women. As far as we know, comparable research into eating and exercise has not been conducted on lesbians across their menstrual cycles. Some studies of lesbian health behavior have reported that lesbians have a higher body mass index (BMI) (Case et al., 2004) and higher frequencies of obesity (Boehmer et al., 2007) and substance abuse (Ridner et al., 2006) than heterosexuals. Other studies have found the opposite (Heffernan, 1998) or mixed results (Heffernan, 1996).Objectification and stigmatization theories have been used to explain th...

Although many studies report that women's sexual behavior varies across their menstrual cycles, the research findings remain inconsistent. In this study, we addressed two methodological issues in research on the menstrual cycle: how ovulation is measured/inferred and whether data using menstrual cycles or participants' scores averaged across cycles as units of analysis yield similar results. We also employed an abstinent comparison group in addition to examining how emotional well-being was related to libido and sexual behavior through factor and regression analysis. Data were obtained from 97 participants. There were no significant differences in the results of analyses performed using cycles with known LH surges to determine ovulation versus cycles based on backward counts. However, we concluded that statistical power might be compromised when the known timing of ovulation was less accurate. Likewise, we found few overall differences in the results when we analyzed data using cycles with known LH surges compared to participants' averaged data across cycles. Women, including those in the abstinent group, reported increased sexual behavior prior to ovulation. Allosexual behavior was positively related to libido, and negatively related to positive and "premenstrual" emotional factors. Autosexual behavior was predicted by libido and an energetic/creative emotional factor. Our findings support hypotheses that women's sexual behavior is related to both mating and pair-bond formation.

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