Ovulation is a sign of health. It requires communication from the brain to the ovaries and also requires proper thyroid and adrenal function to occur. While you often hear about ovulation testing when trying to conceive, there are many benefits to identifying your ovulation -- even if babies are nowhere in your future!
1. Get to Know Your Cycle
Did you know that birth control periods aren’t real periods? They’re actually considered a “withdrawal bleed.” Relearn your cycle after stopping birth control pills or hormonal IUDs.
Hormonal birth control actually works by stopping the communication between the brain and ovaries; it can take some time for them to start talking again! By using ovulation tests, you can actually see when your ovulation is returning. This can take several months for some women, so plan on using ovulation tests for 3-12 months.
2. Identify Causes of Frustrating Acne and Weight Gain
Tracking your cycles using ovulation tests is a fantastic way to identify PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), which can often cause frustrating symptoms such as acne, dark hair growth and weight gain. Typically, when women have PCOS their LH (luteinizing hormone) levels are elevated and they’ll often notice repeatedly high ovulation tests. If this is the case, it’s a good indicator that you’ll need to get some additional lab testing from your doctor as you may have high levels of the male hormone testosterone, insulin imbalances and low progesterone.
Low levels of thyroid hormone can not only interfere with ovulation, but also can be associated with autoimmune disorders that could affect your future fertility and leave you feeling tired…. And increase your waistline.
3. Get Insight on Your Stress Levels
Stress can also throw off our menstrual cycles, and it’s not until we begin tracking periods that we can see the deleterious effects that stress is having on our hormonal cycling! When we are chronically stressed, sometimes our bodies will steal sex hormone precursors in order to produce more of the stress hormone (cortisol) to deal with the stress.
By testing for ovulation, you can identify if your stress is throwing off your cycles and make moves to decrease your stress, optimizing your health.
4. Know When Your Period Is Coming
Whether you’re planning your next trip or want to wear those white pants next weekend… it’s always nice to know when your period is arriving!
Many women have slightly irregular cycles, and ovulation testing can tell you -- much more accurately -- when your period will start. By using ovulation tests, you can identify your predicted ovulation and use our Premom app’s intelligent technology to accurately predict when your period will arrive.
5. Get Pregnant Easily -- When You’re Ready! (Or Avoid It!)
Ovulation testing predicts when you will be ovulating. When you have this information you can either time pregnancy within your fertile window to get pregnant OR you can abstain from intercourse during fertile times and avoid pregnancy.
Learning about your body through the use of ovulation tests leads to massive self-understanding and helps you to optimize your health. Ovulation is a powerful tool for identifying imbalances in your body, and in your life. Consider adding ovulation testing (AKA ovulation predictor kits or LH tests) into your daily regimen from the beginning of your cycle.
If you’re new to ovulation testing, start testing your midday urine starting about 5 days after the start of your period to observe your LH (luteinizing hormone) levels rise. Keep testing daily until you see your LH levels rise to their highest level (this is your “peak day”). When you see your LH peak, you can feel confident that you’ll ovulate within 24 hours of the test.
Premom’s smart technology will interpret your ovulation tests for you: just set them on a white piece of paper and snap a picture using the Premom app. It’ll not only quantify your LH levels, but it’ll track your raising and lowering LH levels and highlight your predicted fertile window. With all these tools, it’s never been easier to get more information about your body!
