The Mikvah: A Pool of Social Chemosignals

Introduction: Chemosignals are volatiles secreted by an individual to affect behavioral, physiological and hormonal state of other individuals. In rodents and humans, chemosignals can time ovulation. Married Jewish religious women dip in a water pool known as the Mikvah once a month, 7 days after menses, i.e., coinciding with the LH-surge before ovulation.

Aim: We test the hypothesis that the Mikvah may serve as a reservoir of high-concentration chemosignals that serve to regulate ovulation.

Materials and Methods: Five healthy, natural cycling women are participating in a pilot study. Participants track 5 menstrual cycles: baseline; 3 cycles attending the Mikvah; followup. Tracking entails BBT-basal body temperature, cervical fluids and menses, and ovulation test kits. Mikvah attending was followed by hormonal salivary assays and questionnaires.

Results: Given the ongoing nature of the study we do not have results from these 5 women, but will have them at conference time. As a preliminary study, we conducted an online survey and asked women who do not use hormonal contraceptives about their menstrual timing after starting to attend the Mikvah. Of 140 women sampled, 29 attended the Mikvah regularly (age = 29 ± 4.7 years). Self-report implied increased menstrual regularity following Mikvah attendance in 17% of these women.

Conclusion: Identification of chemosignaling molecules involved in timing ovulation may provide novel clinical tools relevant to reproduction.