Ovulation is the time of month when the woman’s body releases an egg for fertilization. Right before and after release, pregnancy is most likely for a few days, if the egg is exposed to male sperm. People may have a couple of reasons to calculate ovulation. They could be attempting to avoid pregnancy, or they might want to achieve it. Fortunately there are several ways to calculate ovulation using tests, body temperature, charting, or analysis of vaginal mucus, to name just a few.
Many ovulation tests are a bit like pregnancy tests. They may rely on testing the urine to determine presence of luteinizing hormone. This hormone is released in much greater amounts just before ovulation occurs, but sometimes women can miss it if they perform the test at the wrong time of day. However, there are many who view using test strips as a great way to predict ovulation, especially if they use the test in the mid-afternoon. Testing may also depend on length of cycle, and instructions are given for when to start testing depending on average cycle length.
All manner of charting may be used to calculate ovulation. Since ovulation occurs about 14 days into a cycle, women could simply count or cross off on a calendar starting from the first day of their menstrual cycle. This marks the beginning of the cycle, and not the end as some may think. The trouble with this method is that it isn’t always accurate, and slight changes may alter the cycle slightly. Ovulation could begin early, or happen a few days later than normal in times of stress, illness or simply at any time. As pregnancy prevention, this is considered a very unreliable method.
Some people combine charting with analysis of vaginal mucus. As a woman’s cycle nears its midpoint, mucus increases and becomes stretchier. This is a common method used by people who advocate natural family planning, and it’s also been found by many others as a reliable way to predict or calculate ovulation to try to get pregnant.
Another method that may be employed is testing body temperature, but this can’t predict ovulation. In this method, body temperature is taken upon waking, usually at the same time every morning. Each day’s temperature must be charted, and when the temperature rises by two-tenths of a degree more than it has been on any other day thus far, it means that ovulation occurred. This method is one way of accounting for what has occurred, but it can’t tell people in advance that ovulation is likely to occur.
There are others types of tests to calculate ovulation. People can analyze saliva on special strips because it tends to form a fernlike pattern around ovulation. Alternately, some ovulation testing kits measure more than simply luteinizing hormone and might measure rise or fall of estrogen levels too. Some women use a much less refined method of calculating ovulation and find that if they are in tune with their bodies they note more sexual arousal right before and after ovulation has occurred. The many choices available are surely helpful for anyone wishing to predict or calculate ovulation.
