The Bizarre Side Effect Women Have Experienced After the Solar Eclipse

You know that looking at the sun can potentially ruin your eyesight — just ask these rebellious souls — but women everywhere are noticing other strange side effects from Monday's total solar eclipse.

In fact, if you've noticed your period being erratic or off its normal routine this week or month, the eclipse might be to blame.

"My period's literally been like clockwork for years, but for the last month it's been bizarre," Tamar Lesnoy, 29, told Redbook. "Never in my life has this happened."

Even if your period is regulated by birth control, the once-in-a-lifetime scientific event could still mess with it.

"Since I got my IUD, I don't bleed, I only spot, but, my cramping this past week has been unreal—like so intense that I feel like I have to breathe through them like contractions and down fistfuls of Advil," Gigi Engle, 26, says. "I finished my cycle last week, but starting yesterday I've been experiencing terrible cramping again. I almost thought I had PID [pelvic inflammatory disease], and then I saw the solar eclipse was here and knew my body was likely reacting to it."

While not a lot of research and funding exists for studying this type of contradiction, the moon has long since dictated the tides of the ocean and the happenings of our bodies — and during a solar eclipse, a new moon cycle begins.

"We tend to feel the strongest pulls during the full moon, which may result in heightened emotions and feelings of heaviness on a physical and energetic level," Allison Walton, women's health and integrative nutrition specialist in Richmond, Virginia, told Redbook. "Think about the power of the moon's gravitational pull on the tides. Now imagine what that may do to our body as well."

Walton says that during a full moon, the earth is most "fertile" because its plants are getting light not only from the sun during the day, but also from the full moon's light at night. "Traditionally, the new moon is associated with menstruation, when a woman's body is shedding, releasing, and bleeding," Walton says. "Known as the White Moon Cycle, it's a time to deeply nurture and honor the body, allowing plenty of space to restore."

Just think of the similarities between the moon's cycle and the menstrual cycle: Each consist of 28 days. Each have four phases (new moon, waxing moon, full moon, and waning moon versus menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal). The luteal phase leading up to menstruation, aka PMS, can cause moodiness, bloating and headaches; the full moon causes many people to experience "heightened emotions," according to Walton.

While, admittedly, there aren't a ton of scientific facts to back up the theory behind the solar eclipse messing with your period, astronomer Colin Bedell, founder of "Queer Cosmos", agrees that there's more than meets the eye with these two similar phases.

"According to the metaphysical tradition, the new moon cycle, which is what the solar eclipse is, is the perfect time for the woman to begin menstruation," Bedell said. "Women are going to feel the urge to clean house — that's what the hormones are doing. It's a total release."

"There's clearly something happening with the moon and there's clearly something happening with women's menstrual cycles."

Photo Credit: Nasa