Having a basic understanding of the menstrual cycle is fundamental for natural birth control methods to be effective. At first, it is a little confusing, but even getting the gist is so empowering!
The main hormones at play during the cycle are estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Their main goal is ovulation. You are fertile around 5 days before ovulation and 24 hours after. So the key to natural birth control is identifying this fertile window and how your hormones orchestrate this.
Day 1 of the typical 28 day menstrual cycle, is the day menstruation begins. During menses, the uterus is shedding its blood-rich lining and all four hormones mentioned are at relatively low levels in the body. As you near the end of menses around Day 5-7, estrogen levels increase to a low level in the body which signals the body to prepare for ovulation (low levels of estrogen inhibit the pituitary from making FSH, LH, and the hypothalamus from producing gonadotropin releasing hormone). This allows the body to prepare for ovulation and is called the follicular phase. Around day 14 the egg will finally be ready but a bunch of hormonal changes are required to release this egg for fertilization. Estrogen levels first rise to new heights (high levels of estrogen stimulate the anterior pituitary to make FSH and LH and the hypothalamus to produce Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone). So a high level of estrogen in the body has the opposite effect of a low level of estrogen. The result is that LH, FSH, and GnRH all surge which cause the egg to be released. These surges can be detected with hormone test strips and are very helpful for predicting ovulation and the fertile window. Once the egg is released, progesterone levels begin to rise which prepare the body for pregnancy in the event of fertilization. Progesterone drops right before menstruation and is part of the hormonal signal that brings about menstruation and the start of a new cycle. Following ovulation, estrogen levels almost mirror progesterone levels in terms of when they increase and decrease and by how much; however, estrogen levels remain lower than progesterone in this part of the cycle. If you’d like a more detailed explanation of this process, we highly recommend the embedded video by Ninja Nerd Lectures.
Now with a basic understanding of what your hormones are doing during the menstrual cycle, we are ready to dive into how to track your cycle so that you can use that information to prevent unwanted pregnancy. See you in the next post!
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