Are you ovulating?
That truely is the question!
Many women assume that if they are having periods, then they must be ovulating — it’s a given. However, I am here to break the news that actually no, you may not be ovulating. What you would be experiencing is called an annovulatory cycle. Meaning, a cycle in which you still bleed but ovulation did not occur — not a “true” period.
How is that possible, you might ask?
This can happen due to multiple reasons such as being on an oral contraceptive, having conditions like PCOS, hormonal imbalances from stress, poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies, being over or underweight and doing excessive exercise to name the more common ones.
If you’re thinking about or currently trying to conceive, ensuring that you are ovulating is key. Without ovulation, you cannot get pregnant.
But I don’t care about getting pregnant right now, so what’s the fuss?
Sure, pregnancy is not always the main focus, but ovulation should be regardless, because conception aside, ovulation is an important phase of the natural hormonal cycle and the only way in which we make the magical hormone progesterone.
Progesterone is the yin to oestrogen’s yang. It calms the nervous system, boosts and regulates our mood, promotes good sleep, reduces inflammation, maintains healthy brain function, boosts your metabolism, helps us build muscle and is required to hold and nourish pregnancies.
It is when we are low in this glorious hormone that we start to feel anxious, have low/fluctuating moods, problem sleeping, unexplained weight gain, irregular bleeding and trouble falling pregnant…starting to sound familiar?
We make progesterone only when we ovulate successfully. When a mature egg is released from an ovary, it leaves behind a temporary structure called the corpus luteum which is what actually makes the progesterone. So, as you can imagine, if you do not ovulate, you do not make progesterone.
So how can I know or make sure that I am ovulating?
Great question! You can check that you are ovulating in several ways including charting your cycle by taking your basal body temperature (BBT) in the mornings (separate post later), checking your cervical mucous, or getting specific blood tests done for hormone levels at certain points in your cycle. Doing these things will also help you become more in touch with your own body and cycle as we are all slightly different! After all, no one knows your body the way you do.
As for how you can increase your chances of having ovulatory cycles, this also calls for a post on its own, but a good place to start is ensuring adequate nutrition, especially the ones required for healthy hormones synthesis, and good gut health health. Lifestyle is important too, so making sure you’re moving regularly, managing your caffeine and alcohol intake, stress levels and having good quality sleep.
Other methods that can also help are seed cycling, herbal medicine and practitioner-range supplements to provide therapeutic dosing of specific nutrients for optimal cycle health.
For extra support, seeing a naturopath can help tremendously to investigate into your specific situation and provide a bespoke plan for balancing happy, healthy hormones!
Your period is a monthly report card of your health and a well-functioning, balanced reproductive system is most definitely a reflection of this. I urge everyone to re-think what their cycle means to them — its not simply a monthly chore or inconvenience that should be rid of with a pill, but rather an integral part of your overall wellbeing and indicator for it.
