How Your Ovulation Impacts Your Imagination (Unless You’re a Guy) – Preface.
The more pragmatic ways of maximising creativity involve crafting project timelines and brainstorming sessions around female workers’ cycles of ovulation. This experiment demonstrated that women communicated and engaged in society at the time of ovulation. The ease of communication and ideation can spur exciting discussions and produce ideas that solve problems creatively.
The Science of Ovulation
Ovulation (which occurs every 28 days or so) is a complex process involving hormones including estrogen and progesterone. Oestrogen reaches its peak in the ovulatory period and causes physiological as well as psychological and behavioural shifts. This hormone change increases women’s attractiveness and self-esteem, and even modifies the processing of thought and emotions.
Creativity and Hormones: The Connection
Research has revealed that women’s creative work varies during menstruation. Studies in the journal Psychological Science have suggested that women may have greater creative thought during ovulation. It’s commonly believed that this boost to creativity stems from a surge in oestrogen, which promotes flexibility and divergent thinking – the capacity to come up with different ways of solving a problem.
But how does this connection between ovulation and creativity apply to men?
The Ripple Effect on Men
In environments where collaborative creativity is invited, such as the workplace, a creative studio or collaborative work, “coordinated creativity” could arise when women are in ovulation. The more ebullient and upbeat an ovulating woman is, the more active atmosphere seems to be encouraged, the more free ideas and creativity are flowing. Men interfacing with women in this golden epoch could find themselves in this creative torrent, nourished by the fruits of such a wide-ranging encounter.
This is of course one of the marvels of group working: ideas crashing through, incubated in a cocktail of brisk female hormones and an equally explosive increase in male testosterone, can result in creative approaches to previously unsolvable dilemmas. An informal brainstorming session with a team of all different sorts might generate an explosion of potential coming from such energetic cooperation – and that’s certainly part of the premise of learning the secret hormonal chemistry.
The Creative Benefits of Synchronization
In the workplace, or anywhere else there’s collective creative energy, the timing of the ovulatory cycle can lead to what has been called “synchronised creativity.” When a group of women is in or around ovulation, this dynamic provides an environment that invites creativity.
Even men who are partnering with fertile women could take encouragement from the energising optimism that emanates from these environments. It’s possible that creative forces will tug at your buttons, creating a new solution to an issue or fresh ideas for projects and partnerships.
Enhancing Creativity through Awareness
Learning about the effects of hormonal rhythms can empower both men and women to harness their imaginative landscapes. Here are some ways to use this information for inspiration:
Timing Projects for Maximum Creativity
More practical strategies for maximising creativity include designing project schedules and brainstorming sessions around female workers’ ovulatory rhythms. This experiment established that women were communicative and socially active during ovulation. The ease of expressing thoughts and concepts can trigger lively conversations and sparks insights that solve problems creatively.
Organising collaborative time to happen during the most productive hours can create creative momentum among teams that want to maximize their creative time. Whether that’s generating new ideas, trying to figure something out, or even working through some existing ideas, creativity is more likely to be real at this moment because participants feel engaged and excited enough to contribute.
Encouraging Gender-Diverse Collaboration
It thrives in the “regions where differing perspectives and emotional intelligences converge”. So it’s important that the organisation has access to an enabling context to extract as much power and opinion from the participants as possible. As you might expect from the typical argument, there is a perceived gender difference between men and women when it comes to solving problems. Men are rational, objective; women are relational and intuitive.
By uniting teams that fuse these different forces, organizations can create a new mode of thinking. When we create a place where everybody’s voice is heard and understood, larger spaces enrich the art process. Where individuals in the team feel safe expressing their typically eccentric thoughts, the resulting work often speaks to a broader constituency-base and so leads to innovations that reflect more of a broader array of experiences and opinions.
Highlighting Personal Reflection and Adaptation
In addition to simply being attuned to other people’s cycles, one must also be attuned to one’s own and how that aligns with their own creative drive. By considering for yourself, productivity and creativity can be patterned in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be immediately apparent. For example, others generate their best new ideas in a certain moment in their cycle, or because they are moved by the energy flow of an interactive environment.
This self-knowledge, when used, exponentially expands the creative practice of the individual. If we can modify our methods-whether by scheduling work for the moments we are most inspired, or seeking out colleagues to work on tasks during high-energy times-you can maximize your own contributions to creative work. This subtle solution fosters both creativity within oneself and better collaboration among a team.
Conclusion: How Ovulation Affects Your Creativity (Even If You’re a Guy)
Creativity is a complex, internal and external phenomenon. Although the cycle of ovulation is a physiologically important phenomenon for women, male creativity cannot be ignored. By observing and appreciating these relationships, men and women can better create and work together. Because creativity thrives in an environment of diversity and co-creative forces. So next time you get stuck in your artistic rut, look at how everyone is playing—ovulation may be the springboard you need!
