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Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics
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WOMEN’S BODIES: THE FERTILE PERIOD. RHYTHM (CALENDAR) METHOD
Knowing the survival time of sperm and ovum, we can work out that the fertile period may extend from seven days before until 24 hours after ovulation. Each cycle has two infertile phases: the first phase lasts from the first day of menstruation until about seven days before ovulation and the second infertile phase lasts from 24 hours after ovulation until the first day of the next menstruation. You can use this knowledge to assess when you are fertile by noting various changes in your body during the menstrual cycle and knowing what these changes mean.
• Changes in cervical mucus and the cervix tell you that the fertile period has begun and that ovulation is approaching.
• A rise in basal body temperature pi further changes in cervical mucus tell you that ovulation has occurred and that the second infertile phase has begun.
There are thus several ways you can use fertility awareness, depending on which changes you concentrate on and observe in your body. These methods are known as the rhythm (calendar), the temperature, the mucus (ovulation, Billings) and the symptothermal (combines mucus am temperature) methods.
The rhythm (calendar) method
The rhythm of your menstrual cycles is observed to calculate your most likely time of fertility, based on the knowledge that ovulation usually occurs around two weeks before the next period starts. But because even women with the most regular cycles can sometimes ovulate early or late, the rhythm method got a bad reputation for its high failure rate. Now that we have more reliable methods of fertility awareness, the rhythm method is no longer recommended. However, just for the record I’ll describe how the calculation was done.
• First, the length of menstrual cycles was rioted for a minimum of six months. For women whose cycles varied widely, observation of 12 cycles was advised.
• From the length of the shortest cycle during the observation period 20 days were subtracted. This marked the first day of the fertile phase by allowing 14-16 days for the length of time after ovulation plus 6-4 days for sperm survival time.
• Eleven days were subtracted from the longest cycle (which allowed for the shortest time from ovulation to menstruation) to find the last day of the fertile phase.
Thus, for example, if your cycle varied from 27 to 30 days, the time of abstinence would be from the 7th to the 19th days, but if your cycle varied from 21 to 35 days you would need to avoid coitus for 24 days from the first day of menstruation. This amount of abstinence is not acceptable to many couples.
If you intend to use temperature, mucus or cervical changes, it’s best to learn the method from a teacher properly trained to observe and interpret these signs.
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