What is Fertility Awareness?

A clinical definition of Fertility Awareness might read something like:

The practice of observing the body’s natural fertile biomarkers to determine real time fertile status.

If you’ve just read that and thought “what. on. earth” then you’re not alone – I definitely felt like this when I discovered Fertility Awareness.

In this blog post I’m going to breakdown the components so that you have a better idea of what is involved.

As a starting point, a more simplified and accessible definition is:

Fertility Awareness is the practice of empowering women and people that menstruate how to observe and interpret the fertile signs that their body is already giving them and educating them to understand what these signs mean for their fertility on that day.

I’d like to preface this by saying that this blog post will be focusing solely on symptom-thermal double check methods, because that’s what I’m certified in (for now). Two other kinds of methods are symptom-hormonal or cervical mucus only – to read more about the different kinds of Fertility Awareness click here.

The primary biomarkers that are charted in sympto-thermal methods are cervical mucus and basal body temperature, and the secondary biomarkers are cervical position and urinary hormone testing.

Cervical Mucus

Cervical Mucus is a fluid that is secreted by the crypts in the cervix under the influence of estrogen. Cervical mucus observations are made once menstruation has finished for the cycle. Each individual will have a different cervical mucus pattern and there isn’t really a ‘normal’ or ‘standard’.

When charting cervical mucus we focus on three main components – sensation, appearance and amount.

Sensation is something that we pay attention to throughout the day. We try to focus on the sensation that we feel at the entrance to the vulva and also the sensation that we feel when wiping before and after visiting the bathroom. The sensation categories that we use are dry, moist and wet.

Appearance is what is observed on toilet paper after wiping when visiting the bathroom. Once we have observed visible cervical mucus we categorise it in three categories: dry, non-peak and peak.

Amount is the least important, but it can still be valuable information. We chart that in '1, 2, 3’ or small, medium, large.

From the data collated on cervical mucus we get valuable insight into whether ovulation is approaching, imminent and when it has passed.

Basal Body Temperature

Basal Body Temperature is a measurement of our body temperature at complete rest taken at ideally the same time each day after 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Temperature helps confirm that ovulation has occurred and is a retrospective marker of fertility. Temperature can not be used to predict ovulation or to determine when your fertile window is open.

Before ovulation (in the part of the cycle called the follicular phase) your basal body temperature will be low. Once ovulation has occurred and the body is producing progesterone (in the part of the cycle called the luteal phase) your body temperature will increase ever so slightly and will stay high until menstruation.

Progesterone has a thermogenic effect on the body, which is why your body temperature increases once ovulation has occurred. The bulk of progesterone production comes from the corpus luteum after ovulation has occurred and this is why your temperature increases.

Cervical Position

Cervical Position is a secondary biomarker and isn’t necessary to practice Fertility Awareness correctly. It’s an added extra that some like to add into their practice. The cervix changes position in the lead up to ovulation (which is super cool). After menstruation when hormone levels are low the cervix will feel low, hard and closed in the vaginal canal. As estrogen is being produced the cervix will soften, open and become higher. Once ovulation has occurred the cervix will rapidly change to being low, hard and closed.

Everyone has different anatomy, so for some folks feeling for their cervix is impossible - regardless of where they are in their cycle! Cervixes can also change a lot after childbirth, so for some it can be an unreliable sign and others really enjoy having it as part of their Fertility Awareness practice.

Urinary Hormone Testing

In this section I’m talking specifically about luteinising hormone (LH) testing. LH testing is the other secondary biomarker that can be added in as a triple or quadruple check. LH test strips or OPK test kits that can be brought from the chemist and are utilised twice a day to determine if LH is high enough for ovulation to occur. Getting a positive test result isn’t an indication that ovulation is absolutely going to happen, it’s just a sign that the hormones are where they need to be.

Once a method has been learnt and the you understand all of the components that they are charting, Fertility Awareness will take about 5 minutes out of your day and will very quickly become second nature.

If you want to learn how to apply the above and want to chart your cycles for contraception click on this link!