Every month, about two weeks before your period is due, your body prepares for a possible pregnancy through ovulation, a process in which an egg is released from an ovary into the fallopian tubes, where it can be fertilized by sperm. Your estrogen level peaks during this time, and progesterone begins to spike, but these hormonal surges not only affect your reproductive system, they affect your behavior as well. Read on for some surprising weird things that happen to your body and brain during ovulation.
14 strange things that happen to you while you are ovulating
You may have already noticed some strange things, and others, when reading this article you will realize and know that it was all due to ovulation. Yes, being a woman seems to be equal to hormones, although we should not take it literally because we can control our emotions and know that everything is biochemical.
Your sense of smell is sharper
Women are more sensitive to smell at the time of ovulation, according to a study published in 2013 in Hormones and Behavior .
In particular, ovulating women were more sensitive to androstenone and androsterone , human pheromones found in male sweat and urine, as well as a musky odor, compared to women taking birth control pills (and therefore did not ovulate).
A heightened sense of smell may help you sniff out a potential mate during this time of peak fertility.
Your radar is at its highest
When college students were asked to look at photos of 80 men, half of whom were heterosexual and half homosexual, and determined the sexual orientation of each, they were more accurate the closer they were to ovulation, according to a study published in 2011 in Psychological Science .
Previous studies have also shown that women’s preferences for men’s faces vary by cycle, so it makes sense that their ‘radar’ also varies with these hormonal changes, ”explains study co-author Nicholas Rule, PhD, associated. professor of psychology at the University of Toronto .
You’re a little redder
Your skin color changes very slightly throughout your menstrual cycle, according to a 2015 study from the University of Cambridge . When women were photographed without makeup at the same time every day for a month, they had more facial redness at ovulation.
These changes are so small that the human eye does not actually detect them, but researchers suspect they may be related to other changes in appearance or behavior, as other studies have found that men rate women as more attractive when they have ovulation.
Your voice changes during ovulation
One of the strange things that you may have already noticed while ovulating is that your tone of voice changes. Women wear a more feminine tone when ovulating, according to a 2009 UCLA study.
A higher tone of voice is associated with being younger (and therefore more fertile), which may help explain why a previous study in Human Evolution and Behavior found that women’s voices were rated as more attractive during ovulation.
“We also found that women show many behavioral changes during ovulation, including dressing and walking differently, which when combined can be the way women inadvertently reveal their fertility status,” explains Greg Bryant, PhD, psychologist. from the Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture at UCLA and co-author of the 2009 study.
You dress to impress
Speaking of dressing: Ovulating women are more likely to choose revealing clothing, according to a University of Texas study, and a previous UCLA study found that people were more likely to rate women in their most fertile phase as “Trying to look more attractive” compared to women after ovulation.
As if those offers of attention weren’t enough, other studies have found that women are more likely to wear pink or red clothes during their most fertile window, with the idea that men are sexually attracted to women who wear red. .
You may find it easier to quit smoking
Women experience their most intense cigarette cravings right after their period, according to a 2014 study that measured brain activity in men and women who were shown neutral images related to smoking.
“Low levels of estrogen and progesterone may worsen withdrawal symptoms by interacting with other brain neurotransmitters that stimulate cravings,” explains study co-author Adrianna Mendrek, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Montreal .
In contrast, women’s brains reacted much less to smoking-related cues right after ovulation, when both hormones are at their peak.
Your asthma can improve
Do you have wheezing? You will most likely improve a day or two around ovulation, according to a 2012 Norwegian study.
When researchers recorded the symptoms of nearly 4,000 women over the course of their menstrual cycles, they found that while wheezing and shortness of breath were highest during the middle two weeks of the month (when estrogen levels are naturally high), both symptoms decreased in ovulation time (days 14 to 16).
“We see this anecdotally as well, so it makes sense that a woman should talk to her allergist about individualizing her asthma treatments in her menstrual cycle,” says Bryan Martin, DO, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Your cholesterol starts to drop
If you need to control your cholesterol, don’t do it before ovulation. That’s when it’s at its highest, according to a 2010 National Institutes of Health study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism .
Researchers found that women’s total cholesterol levels rose in the first half of their cycle as estrogens rose, fell immediately before ovulation, and then fell rapidly after ovulation, in the second half of the cycle.
Testing at the end of your cycle, when your levels are at their lowest, reduces the risk of you getting a false positive result.
You feel drawn to go for it
You probably won’t be surprised to see yourself poking around dating groups when you’re ovulating, as this is your most fertile time. But surprisingly, you do the same when you shop, too.
When researchers surveyed women in their 20s and 30s who weren’t pregnant or were taking hormonal birth control, they found that women were more likely to try a new product, from makeup to candy bars, when they were ovulating.
“We didn’t see this among women who were already in a committed relationship, who were more likely to say they were with the same partner and the same brands,” explains study author Kristina Durante, PhD, associate professor of marketing at Rutgers Business. College .
Your vote can swing
A 2013 study found that single women who were ovulating were more likely to vote for Barack Obama in the 2012 US presidential election, while ovulating women with committed relationships preferred Mitt Romney.
“We found that single women were more likely to relax their views on politics and religion when they were ovulating, possibly because their sexual desire intensified during this time,” says Durante, who also notes that his group saw similar results in men when his testosterone levels were high.
Women in a relationship, however, were another story entirely, becoming more religious and conservative during this time. “We’re not sure why, but it could be that their increased libido made them feel guilty, especially if they fantasized about men they weren’t involved with,” Durante theorizes.
You become more competitive with other women
During also discovered that women who are close to ovulation are much more interested in raising their status compared to other women.
In a 2014 study, researchers had women who ovulated and did not ovulate and play the “dictator’s game,” where they were given a set amount of money to share with other women.
Women who ovulated shared only half that of those who did not ovulate. Not only that, when men were added to the game, women who ovulated gave 60% to boys, in contrast to 25% to women.
“This is consistent with other research that has been done on animals,” says Durante. “Female monkeys, for example, all behave like real housewives when they are in their best fertile state.”
You don’t take your dad into account
Women who ovulate are half as likely to talk to their parents and half as often as they talk to them, while calls to mom increase in both frequency and duration, according to a 2010 UCLA study.
You may subconsciously not want your dad to lecture you about your love life and to exert any kind of control over you in your most fertile time. Or, as the study researchers darkly predict: it’s an evolutionary defense against inbreeding.
You choose “bad guys”
Not only are you more likely to choose Shia LeBoeuf-type men during ovulation, you’re also more likely to convince yourself that he will be a dedicated father and provider, according to research.
In a 2012 study, women were shown online dating profiles of a reliable charismatic “nice guy” at different times in their menstrual cycle, and then asked to rate how helpful they thought they would be in caring for the baby, shopping for food, cooking and helping with other household chores.
“We found that when women were under the hormonal influence of ovulation, they were basically fooling themselves into thinking that the sexy bad boy type would be better than the most reliable,” says Durante.
Your boy gets more jealous
Research has long shown that women gravitate toward “masculine”-looking men during ovulation – think strong jaw lines and thin lips.
But your partner is also more likely to feel threatened by these manly men, according to a study conducted at the University of Liverpool in the UK.
Men whose female partners were ovulating rated other men with male characteristics as more dominant (someone who seemed like they could “get what they wanted”), compared to men whose partner was on birth control or who were not close to it. ovulation.