The Menstrual Cycle and Sexual Behavior: Relationship to Eating, Exercise, Sleep, and Health Patterns

Abstract

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...

Women’s Sexuality, Well-Being, and the Menstrual Cycle: Methodological Issues and Their Interrelationships

“…Some researchers employed physiological measurements to determine the LH surge (e.g., Ovukit: Bullivant et al, 2004;Ovusign: Gangestad et al, 2002;Clearplan: Graham, Janssen, & Sanders, 2000), measured cervical mucus (Burleson et al, 2002), or estrogen and progesterone levels (Sanders, Warner, Backstrom, & Bancroft, 1983) or their metabolites (Wilcox et al, 2004), but most studies employed backward or forward counts from Day 1 of menstruation (Table 1). Similar issues surround differences in the number of menstrual phases defined across a cycle (10 phases, Matteo & Rissman, 1984;6 phases, Bullivant et al, 2004;2 phases, Rosen & Lopez, 2009;Singh & Bronstad, 2001), the length of each phase (same length, Singh & Bronstad, 2001 or different lengths, Bullivant et al, 2004;Burleson et al, 2002), if data were broken down by cycle (Brown, Morrison, Calibuso, & Christiansen, 2008a) or averaged across women who contributed different numbers of cycles (Bullivant et al, 2004), and the number of cycles women were followed (usually only one but sometimes up to five cycles). Most researchers defined phases based on women's hormone profiles (broadly proliferative/follicular with high estrogen levels versus secretory/luteal with high estrogen and higher progesterone levels).…”

Actigraphic and self-reported sleep quality in women: associations with ovarian hormones and mood

“…The lack of consensus across these studies may arise from three factors: first, some sleep studies have used ovarian hormones to determine menstrual phase [5,10], whereas others have used the more subjective measure of self-reported menstrual phase [11]. Second, some sleep studies have used objective measures of sleep, such as actigraphy and polysomnography, whereas others have used selfreport [5,10].…”

“…Self-reported sleep disturbance in women of reproductive age has been traditionally linked with menstrual cycle phase, and sleep disturbance remains a core symptom of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) [4][5][6]. A physiologic link between ovarian hormones and sleep quality is plausible; however, evidence supporting a direct causal relationship remains sparse.…”

Using a Menstrual Emotional Stroop Task Test (MEST) to Measure Emotional Responses to Menstrual Cycle Pain

“…Recent research has found additional evidence that links women's behavior with the different menstrual phases with the hormonal changes across these phases [33]. Previous studies indicate that females react to emotionally negative stimuli differently in the follicular compared to the luteal phase [26,34].…”