Changes in your Basel Body Temperature are an unbelievably accurate message your body sends you to tell you when you are ovulating. Chances are, you were just never tuned in to receiving this message — until now.
Tracking your BBT can be used as a stand alone method in Natural Family Planning, or as one indicator in the Sympto-Thermal Method. Lets get some more details about what goes into the process of taking your Basal Body Temperature (BBT).
Basal Body Temperature Basics
So what does Basel body temperature mean? Basically, it is your body temperature after sleeping before moving or eating anything. You can take your temperature orally (the most common method), vaginally, or rectally. Your goal is to identify fluctuations in BBT in order to pinpoint the fertile and non fertile days of your cycle. A subtle but recognizable change in your BBT pattern signifies ovulation. By recording and charting the BBT on a daily basis the changes become distinguishable and ovulation can be pinpointed.
Charting fertility manually using BBT readings requires a fertility chart, some training and a lot of discipline. Before embarking on any program of Fertility Awareness or making changes in your chosen contraceptive method, a full consultation with a trained practitioner is highly recommended. Make sure to include your partner and your doctor or gynecologist in your decision making process.
Measuring your Basel Body Temperature
One of the first things to understand is how to measure your accurate BBT. Because BBT is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest (usually during sleep), it is generally measured immediately after awakening and before any physical activity. Once awake your body springs to life, blood will start pumping, your heart rate will rise, and as a result , your body temperature will rise above what was the basal temperature. Therefore the measurement should be taken the moment you awake.
A common question is how long does one have to sleep before you can take a temperature reading. There is no fixed answer. Five hours is often quoted, but there are factors which impact that figure. Imagine you finish work, go for a hard session at the gym, go home, eat a huge dinner, and then go to sleep. Your body will be digesting that dinner for a long time and your metabolism will remain very active for many hours before it returns to it's basal state. Now imagine you have a quiet night in with a book, eat a light supper and then retire to bed. The time needed to get your body to a totally relaxed state will be a lot shorter than the first scenario. Other variables include the person's own metabolic rate, alcohol consumption, or anxiety and raised blood pressure. All of these factors impact the amount of sleep which someone needs before their body returns to a totally relaxed state.
Ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit (one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius) in basal body temperature (BBT). The tendency of a woman to have lower temperatures before ovulation, and higher temperatures after ovulation, is known as a biphasic pattern. Charting of this pattern as an indicator for ovulation is used as highly reliable a component of fertility awareness.
You can choose to monitor your fertility manually, through the good old paper and pencil method, or through a fertility monitor. Fertility monitors are a great one time investment that will take all the hassle and confusion out of the process. . If you chose to monitor fertility manually, continue reading the steps below.
Step-By-Step Instructions:
1. Take your temperature immediately upon waking, before physically getting up. You should leave your thermometer at your bedside within easy reach so you don't have to move much to get it.
2. Take your temperature at as close to the same time each day as possible. Set an alarm clock so that you will get up at the same time each day. A variation is up to point two degrees per hour is normal if you take your temperature at inconstant times. .2 degrees lower if you take your temperature early, and .2 degrees higher if you take it late.
3. You should sleep at least five before taking your BBT with three hours of consecutive sleep.
4. You can take your temperature orally, vaginally, or rectally but you must use the same method for the entire cycle.
5. You should try to place the thermometer in the same position each day (same location of your mouth, or same depth vaginally or rectally)
6. Record your temperature on your chart each day.
7. Some women experience a slight temperature drop just before they ovulate. This is a useful indicator for those using this method for conception as it would mark the start of the most fertile period of your cycle.
8. Look for a temperature shift of at least .4 degrees F over a 48-hour period to indicate ovulation. This shift should be above the highest temperatures in the previous six days, allowing one temperature to be thrown out as inaccurate (fluke, illness).
9. After you see a temperature shift for at least three days, or at the end of your cycle, you can draw a cover-line between your follicular phase and luteal phase temperatures. It should be easy to see a clear shift and draw your line between the highest follicular phase BBT and the lowest luteal phase BBT as in the sample above. The main reason for drawing this line is just to clearly delineate that your chart is biphasic. Take a look at the image above which clearly illustrates this shift.
10. Analyze the chart at the end of the month.
11. Continue to chart for a few months and look for patterns.
12. If your temperature remains high for 8 days or more after ovulation, you may be pregnant and should take a pregnancy test.
Charting your BBT to learn about your own cycle and fertility can be very enlightening and fulfilling, but for some, the process can seem daunting. It's normal! The process can be made a lot easier by using a contraceptive monitor such as Cyclotest. makes taking the daily reading simple and then automatically does the calculations to show your fertility window on a screen. No need to interpret body temperatures or do any charting.
How Contraceptive Monitors Can Help - The Simple Solution
Contraceptive monitors are an easy way to practice the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) of birth control. No need to interpret body temperatures or do any charting. All you have to do it click a button at the start of your cycle and take your temperature each morning. The data is entered and charted automatically, hassle free.
Cyclotest To The Rescue
Cyclotest is a small handheld device with an integrated digital thermometer that automatically charts your fertility for the easiest experience possible. The Cyclotest is available in the classic blue version or the pink Cyclotest Baby. Both options are basically identical, however, the Cyclotest Baby comes with additional software to download fertility charts that will be particularly useful for those who are trying to conceive.
Both Cyclotest and Cyclotest Baby are designed to give you control over and understanding of your fertility without changing the natural harmony of your body. They offer 97% contraceptive reliability just by taking a simple waking temperature in the morning.
Cyclotest 2 Plus - The Absolute Best Contraceptive Monitor for Fertility Awareness
How can the Cyclotest get even better? Welcome to Cyclotest 2 Plus. With this version of Cyclotest you have the option of increasing the contraceptive reliability from 97% to an astonishing 99%.
You are now able to monitor a secondary fertility indicator of either the LH hormone or the appearance of cervical mucus. When one of these two natural indicators is noticed you just press a button and Cyclotest has learned a bit more. That information is added to your automatic charting, and your Cyclotest and it's accuracy are that much greater.
Remember that unlike other contraceptive monitors, Cyclotest is a one-and-done purchase with no need to buy any environmentally unfriendly test sticks every month. Cyclotest, with its amazing functionality and level of accuracy, is sure to be one of the best purchases you ever make!
Read original article here: http://ethicalfamilyplanning.com/chart-fertility-basal-body-temperature
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