A new study explains how the menstrual cycle is regulated

The menstrual cycle lasts on average 28 days, as we know. But scientists still don’t know what determines the timing of these cycles, or why each phase lasts so long.

But according to a new study published in the journal Advances in sciencethe length of the ovarian cycle would depend on an internal biological clock – which determines the circadian rhythm, reports the Spanish newspaper El País.

A clock that regulates the cycle

Second Claude Gronfierresearcher at the Neuroscience Research Center of Lyon, who is also one of the authors of the study, the duration of 28 days is explained by “ youn delicate balance between endocrine processes » which lead to the different phases of the phenomenon.

After analyzing almost 33,000 menstrual cycles in more than 3,000 women (27,000 menstrual cycles in 2,300 European women, and another 4,800 in 721 North American women), the study authors found that the rhythmic characteristics of the menstrual cycle could therefore be explained by a mechanism within the body, similar to the circadian clock, the timer central biological located in the hypothalamus, located in the brain, which communicates the time to the rest of the body.

So this timing mechanism can also correct fluctuations that occur within a cycle. For example, like when the cycle is interrupted by a few days due to travel: “ If the cycle gets longer, for some reason, this clock-based process adapts to shorten it quickly, and if it gets shorter, this clock-based process adapts to lengthen it as well. », he adds Claude Gronfier in the conclusions of the study.

Read also: A chilling study denounces the risk from the cycle tracking app for our personal data

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