Many of us track our menstrual cycle and most of us are using the plethora of apps available. However there are very few that actually keep track of fertility hormone levels over time. In fact, there are limited ways to measure our fertility hormones daily in a convenient fashion. What we mean more specifically is measuring hormones such as luteinizing hormone (LH), progesterone, estradiol, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and even follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). These hormones work in great synergy together and if one is out of whack, it has a domino effect on the others. 

We believe there are great benefits to tracking your cycle through hormones and wanted to share three key ones:

Reason #1. To understand and control our body

Our menstrual cycles can be an excellent indicator of our overall health, demonstrating when/if we are healthy or pointing to possible health conditions. By measuring our hormone levels daily and over time, we can discover any irregularities sooner and proper interventions can be taken before early symptoms become a serious issue. In addition, knowing our bodies can help us avoid unnecessary stress and medications that we may not really need. 

Reason #2. For a complete view of our fertility

Tracking our hormone levels can help understand how our fertility hormones are working together. It can help identify issues before they become major problems. Or we can use these hormone measurements to determine when we are ovulating to help ease the journey of conceiving a child. Tracking symptoms that may be correlated with our cycle along with the hormones measurements could be helpful in understanding our cycles even more. Some interesting symptoms include pain around ovulation, PMS, cervical mucus, and migraine headaches.

Reason #3. To assist in natural family planning

Every woman’s ovulation cycle is unique to her and different from other women. To add to the variability, fluctuations in hormone levels can occur monthly between cycles as well. Once we have a good understanding of how our hormone levels behave over time, we can use these trends to increase our chances of conceiving or avoid unwanted pregnancy. This could be a preferred way to monitor health in an effort to avoid unwanted medications or traditional birth control methods.

Tracking our cycles can be incredibly empowering. Many of us feel like we don’t have control over our bodies but having a basic understanding of how our cycles work can make a huge difference in our daily lives. This is exactly what OOVA aims to accomplish - providing the information we need to empower us and take control of our health.