Why ovulation matters even if you’re not trying to get pregnant

Nov 11

Before we delve in I have to be honest. Until I started studying Nutrition and digging deeper into women’s health, I had no idea if I was ovulating or not or why I should even care about it.

But as we are about to find out:

Ovulatory cycles are both an indicator and a creator of good health

– Dr Jerilynn Prior

More is being understood that our menstrual cycles are in fact our 5th vital sign and a really important indicator or our health overall.

What is ovulation?

Ovulation is the release of an egg from your ovaries this egg will live for 12-24 hours before it dies. If you are trying to conceive it is absolutely essential that you know when you are ovulating as you can see your window of opportunity is very small.

But I don’t want to get pregnant right now so why does ovulation matter to me?

If you are not trying to get pregnant, ovulation is still very important. Here are 4 reasons why:

1 - Ovulation also stimulates our hormone production

2 - Ovulation matters because it’s how you progress through all the menstrual cycle phases to your menstrual flow or period.

3 -If we are not ovulating we aren’t getting the balance and benefits of both of these beautiful hormones of oestrogen which is amazing for energy, sex drive and vitality for life and our progesterone is so important for mood, anxiety , sleep and helping stop the horrible PMS symptoms.

4 - Ovulation is also how you make progesterone and we REALLY want good levels of progesterone because:

- It is the key hormone for period health

- It counterbalances oestrogen (too much oestrogen leads to symptoms such as PMS, Endometriosis, fibroids, tender painful breasts, weight gain etc)

- Thins your uterus lining (less painful, heavy periods)

- Boosts thyroid hormone (that’s how it promotes an increase in body temp)

- Prevents breast cancer

- Reduces inflammation (increased levels of inflammation can lead to pain, heavy bleeding and cramping)

- Builds muscles

- Promotes sleep

- Protects against heart disease

- Calms our nervous system and makes it easier to cope with stress.

Pretty great huh?!

So how do I know if I am ovulating?

There are a few signs we can tune into that indicate possible ovulation:

Fertile mucus (is a sign of ovulation before ovulation has taken place. It is a unique type of vaginal discharge that looks and fee like raw egg white – it is clear, stretchy and slippery that you will see during the days that lead up too ovulation. It’s function is to transport sperm rapidly through your uterus to your egg)
A rise in basal body temperature ( Progesterone which your body makes after ovulation has many affects on your body including raising your body temperature. On waking take your temperature, under-the-tongue first thing before you get out of bed. Taking temperature regularly you will be able to notice the increase around ovulation by approximately 0.3C and maintains it at that higher temperature until your period)
An increase in progesterone as measured by a mid-luteal phase blood test.

But be aware - A period itself is not evidence of ovulation because it is possible to have an anovulatory (no ovulation) cycle. Also, a pill bleed/ ‘period’ is not a result from ovulation. On a side note some forms of contraception work by shutting off ovulation and that is where a lot of the symptoms and side effects of hormonal birth control come from but that is a topic for another day. Instead, it is a withdrawal bleed from the drugs that stimulate your uterine lining but shut down your ovaries. A pill bleed is about the dosing of a drug.

The pill stops ovulation COMPLETELY so no egg gets released and so you can’t get pregnant. But you are also sacrificing your hormone production too. This blew my mind when I first heard about it, it was definitely not something I was ever advised about before being prescribed the pill.