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Menstrual Cycles as Key to Embodied Synchronisation

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Life and Mind

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Evolution Research ((IDER,volume 8))

Abstract

The concept of embodiment has allowed philosophical discussions to refer to cognition as the result of a series of interactions occurring both within and outside the organism. The factors that organisms look at when keeping up with that synchrony are defined as timekeepers, elements that set the pace of specific rhythms. In this paper, I elaborate on the hypothesis that, if an all-encompassing sense of physiological and psychosocial synchrony is essential for the enablement of the organism’s cognitive capacity and, ultimately, overall well-being, the rhythm menstrual cycles perform must be considered as a key part of the process of attunement through which menstruating organisms understand reality and access activities of sense-making. Following the belief that lack of academic, scientific, and social knowledge on menstrual cycles has kept menstruating organisms from successful synchronisation and, consequently, the correct articulation of their cognition, I postulate throughout this paper menstrual cycles as a crucial tool for the resynchronisation of menstruating organisms with their physiological and psychological environment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Throughout the paper, I will refer to the organisms subject to synchronisation through the menstrual cycle as ‘menstruating organisms’, with this phrase applying to all human bodies that experience natural menstrual cycles, regardless of their gender identity. Organisms experiencing natural menstrual cycles do not include users of hormonal birth control, hormone-replacement therapy, or in-vitro fertilisation, since their hormonal profile is altered by exogenous factors.

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Acknowledgements

This paper would not have been possible without the support of my supervisor, Arantza Etxebarria. Her guidance and attention to detail were key during the production of the final draft of this paper. My PhD peers at the University of the Basque Country were also kind enough to look over my drafts and helped me polish some last detail. I am also grateful for the insightful comments offered by the anonymous peer reviewers at Springer. Their advice and knowledge have improved this paper in innumerable ways and I am thankful for that.

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  1. Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country, Donostia – San Sebastián, Spain

    Ainhoa Rodriguez-Muguruza

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  1. Ainhoa Rodriguez-Muguruza
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Correspondence to Ainhoa Rodriguez-Muguruza .

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  1. Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    José Manuel Viejo

  2. Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Mariano Sanjuán

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Rodriguez-Muguruza, A. (2023). Menstrual Cycles as Key to Embodied Synchronisation. In: Viejo, J.M., Sanjuán, M. (eds) Life and Mind. Interdisciplinary Evolution Research, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30304-3_6

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