Benefits of confirming ovulation yourself each cycle

Ovulation always comes first. You can not have a true menstrual period without having ovulated. Confirming ovulation yourself each cycle is the only way to know for sure if you had / are having ovulatory cycles in the first place (unless you get an ultrasound or are routinely getting blood tests taken to see if you’ve ovulated).

Just because you have what looks to be a period, does not necessarily mean you're ovulating. Sometimes we have what’s called a withdrawal bleed, which is not a true menstrual cycle (meaning- the full and necessary matrix of hormones did not occur in that cycle). There are a variety of reasons why this may happen occasionally or consistently. Ideally, we want to be ovulating each cycle because of the health benefits it provides. Read more here about the health benefits of ovulation.

After confirming ovulation, you'll be able to keep track of how long your luteal phase lengths are. Luteal phase length is an indicator of hormonal health, namely progesterone levels

Why does this matter? For so many reasons! If you find yourself having horrible PMS, insomnia, spotting leading up to menses, and so much more, you’ll want to see what your progesterone levels are up to and how to improve them

Lastly, pinpointing when you ovulated allows you to see how long it took you to ovulate. Did you ovulate on day 11 this cycle, or on day 29, 45 or 82? Knowing how long it took your body to ovulate is important information! It gives an inside peek into your endocrine system hormones and allows you to see how your body is creating and metabolizing hormones.

Benefits of being able to confirm ovulation for those avoiding pregnancy:

Once you confirm ovulation, you are no longer able to get pregnant in that cycle 

Benefits of being able to confirm ovulation for those trying to conceive:

If you are trying to conceive, once you confirm ovulation, you know that 18 high basal body temperatures confirm pregnancy

• You will know when you conceived with great accuracy!

More on luteal phase length and progesterone levels-- this an important indicator of your ability to hold a potential pregnancy

• Knowing the health of your luteal phase can allow you to make improvements ahead of time if trying to conceive. This is one of many aspects of a SymptoThermal practice that could save so many women from the heartache of early miscarriage / chemical pregnancies, etc. There are so many ways to improve luteal phase health with herbs, diet and lifestyle within a relatively short time frame

Ok, now that I've given you some pretty great reasons why you'd want to confirm ovulation yourself... are you curious to learn how to do-it-yourself? Join me in my next round of the Track your cycle, change your life program!