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Fertility Awareness and You
Fertility Awareness is a method of birth control you might be hearing a bit more about right now. We’re here to unpack what it is and how it might help you!
By Sullivan Jordan
Fertility Awareness Methods are techniques for tracking signs of fertility in the body. They can be incredibly helpful in understanding your cycle and its variations, adding predictability to even the unpredictable parts of menstruating.
(Its effectiveness in pregnancy prevention varies depending on consistency and thoroughness in tracking and following the process.)
How does this work?
Using a variety of methods, a person tracks their times of ovulation, learning through the symptoms of ovulation what their typical menstrual cycle and each month’s actual menstrual cycle looks like.
Though we think of these cycles as the advertised 28 days, with ovulation on day 14, every person is different. Additionally, each person can have a ton of variety in cycle length and timing month to month depending on age, hormonal changes, lifestyle changes, illness, or even stress.
Since you’re already well aware of when your period is, finding out the time of ovulation gives you the complete picture of what your cycle looks like each month.
How does this work as birth control?
Using a variety of methods, a person tracks their likely times of ovulation, and then avoids sex or uses an alternate form of protection during those days.
As we discussed in our series about the menstrual cycle, the ovaries release an egg once per cycle into the fallopian tube where it stays for around 12-24 hours. If it isn’t fertilized, eventually menstruation occurs. If a sperm cell does fertilize the egg, it travels up the fallopian tube and attaches to the wall of the uterus, starting a pregnancy.
Sperm can live for up to 6 days after sex inside the body. Adding that to the 24 hours the egg is viable, there are essentially 7 days of fertility– the 5 before ovulation, the day of ovulation, and the day or so after.
How to Use it?
While FAMs typically are laid out as separate methods, the most effective way to use them is in combination. This way, if one factor is off, you are still receiving accurate information.
(For example, if you are using temperature tracking to understand when you are ovulating, if you get sick and have a slight fever, your fertility tracking is not completely thrown.)
1. Basal Body Temperature:
BBT is your body’s lowest temperature of the day, taken each morning before getting out of bed. After ovulation, the BBT rises between 0.5° and 1° F due to the increase in progesterone
2. Cervical Mucus
Right before ovulation, cervical mucus becomes clear, stretchy, and slippery– a raw egg white texture. After ovulation, the mucus typically becomes thicker and you may notice less of it.
3.Calendar
This method works by charting menstrual cycles for 6 months to a year to determine longest and shortest cycles. With that knowledge, you can identify your average window of fertility.
4. Other Symptoms
This method involves tracking a variety of secondary symptoms like breast tenderness, pain around ovulation, increased sex drive, and cervical position. These additional factors make the picture of your cycle more accurate.
Paying attention to your body’s signals can help you understand what’s going on in your body month to month. It can be great information to have if your cycles seem abnormal, or if you are tracking conditions or symptoms that are affected by your cycle.
If you’re interested in using Fertility Awareness, especially as birth control, we recommend taking a class or talking to your healthcare provider.
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