Culture and menstruation the ideal of synchronised tidal, lunar, menstrual and seasonal periodicities whose overall harmony (it is believed) confers spiritual power and fertility. To many, such cultural associations appear persuasive in view of the fact that in humans, the menstrual cycle quite closely approximates the moon's 29.5-day synodic cycle, unlike in chimpanzees (~36 days) or bonobos (~40 days). Statistical information from hunter gatherers is lacking, but where large-scale western studies focus on women's peak reproductive years—removing outlier values—the cycle length gravitates around 29.1–29.5 days, while the figure for women in their thirties shortens toward 28 days. In no extant human population has
Menstrual synchrony study has ever found that menstrual cycles become strictly concordant, nevertheless "menstrual synchrony" is used to refer the phenomenon of menstrual cycle onsets becoming closer to each other over time. In a recent systematic review of menstrual synchrony, Harris and Vitzthum concluded, "In light of the lack of empirical evidence for MS [menstrual synchrony] "sensu stricto", it seems there should be more widespread doubt than acceptance of this hypothesis" (pp. 238–239). The experience of synchrony may be the result of the mathematical fact that menstrual cycles of different frequencies repeatedly converge and diverge over time and not due to a