If you’re like a lot of women, you may not think about ovulation unless you’re trying to conceive, or trying to ensure pregnancy prevention. And if you have a fairly regular period, or you don’t menstruate at all, you may never consider whether you actually ovulate or not.
It’s important to track when and if you ovulate, because ovulation affects far more of your overall health beyond reproductivity and that particular life stage. Ovulation is a valuable tool for identifying the midpoint of your cycle. Knowing the midpoint means you know when certain hormones peak each month, and the peak serves as an anchor across your cycle and fluctuating hormone levels.
Pinpointing an anchor can potentially help you identify and predict other health patterns, and some women may be more vulnerable to certain health conditions when they ovulate. Noticing when you as an individual seem more vulnerable helps you better manage those conditions. For example, approximately 20% of women experience debilitating migraines. That’s a significant number, and in fact, women are 3 times more likely to experience migraines than men. If you track when during your cycle you’re more prone to headaches, then you can begin to anticipate them and better plan your life to minimize the negative effects these events have on your well-being. Maybe you can schedule time off work, or choose a better day to give a work presentation, if you identify a pattern of when headaches might affect you.
These patterns in health events across your menstrual cycle go far beyond headaches. If you’re diabetic, you may need to increase your insulin at certain times of the month, such as before ovulation when estrogen rises. If you know when you’re likely to experience acne, you could cut back on breakout-causing foods or use more preventative topical treatments on your skin during specific phases of your cycle. If you have asthma, you can plan when in your cycle to participate in certain activities, or when you should rest or perhaps opt out of running a race. Pinpointing ovulation and observing your own patterns can help you better manage your life.
It can even improve your athletic training and performance. Research shows that strength training is more effective in the first half of a woman’s cycle (in other words, from the start of menstruation through the follicular phase and up to ovulation) because the body is able to recover better than during the second half of the menstrual cycle. If you know when you ovulate, this could mean you plan for more intense weight-bearing exercise before ovulation instead of after. Another point to consider is that while estrogen can benefit muscle performance, it can actually have a detrimental effect on ligaments and tendons, which could lead to increased risk of injury. So depending on the type of training and the strain it might place on ligaments and tendons, or an individual’s history of injury, a particular workout could be further tailored to occur not only in the first half the cycle, but also a few days before ovulation, when estrogen peaks and ligaments or tendons might be most vulnerable.
The dance of women’s hormones is truly intricate and complex. Most research conducted on sports and athletic performance has historically focused on men, and much more is needed specifically on women and our hormone fluctuations. The potential for new insights when it comes to women’s cycles, and the opportunities for “bio hacking” based on further research, seems so far untapped.
But there are broader reasons why tracking your ovulation is important. While it may be widely understood that irregular periods or their sudden absence could indicate a health concern, what’s less well-known is that regular ovulation is a vital indicator of your health as well - and at certain times in your life, not ovulating regularly could lead to adverse health events. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists considers the menstrual cycle the 5th vital sign (the 4 main signs being what’s normally checked at any doctor visit: your temperature, pulse, breathing rate, and blood pressure). The menstrual cycle is not just menstruation - it includes ovulation as well as an important indicator of health. Though ovulation may be more easily missed or overlooked than menstruation, there are outward signs and ways to track it, to ensure you’re on the best path for your health.
Ovulation influences the regulation of other hormones that influence health beyond the menstrual cycle, such as bone loss and metabolism. A study by the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that women who don’t ovulate lose nearly 4% of their spinal bone density every year, even if they’re getting their periods. Studies of perimenopausal women show that as a woman ages, a decrease in how often she ovulates is associated with enhanced bone mineral density loss - and this can happen even when estrogen levels remain adequate. Estrogen levels may remain normal, but lack of ovulation affects levels of progesterone, which can contribute to bone loss.
While it was traditionally believed that decreasing estrogen levels in menopausal women is mainly what contributed to osteoporosis, this research suggests that ovulation and levels of FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) are important factors influencing bone density, as well. What we learn from this is that declines in bone health can actually begin earlier than previously believed, during perimenopause as women might begin to ovulate less often, and not just once they’ve reached menopause. Women who have regular periods but don’t realize they’re not ovulating may be on a path to these conditions long before there are any outward signs of a problem. Monitoring the signs of ovulation specifically can help identify problems, and potentially correct them, earlier in life.
Ovulation is also critical for progesterone production in women. Progesterone increases after an egg is released from the follicle to assist with reproduction, but as a hormone, progesterone has other crucial functions for the body and ripple effects necessary for our well-being. It’s important to ovulate regularly to maintain the balance and cycle of progesterone, which affects our sleep, general inflammation, mood and levels of depression, and more. Progesterone is considered a calming, mood-stabilizing hormone that helps us feel better throughout our cycles.
In addition to the direct effects ovulation can have on our bodies and the production of other necessary hormones, a lack of ovulation is a communication in its own right, as well. Not ovulating can be a sign of other health conditions, such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). PCOS is a reproductive issue, but again, it also influences our health beyond fertility. Not only is PCOS related to decreased ovulation, but also it’s correlated with insulin resistance. Not ovulating could therefore be associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
While it’s fairly obvious whether or not you’re menstruating regularly, you may be wondering how to know if you’re truly ovulating each month - especially since we know that you might not ovulate even when you still get a regular period. This is another reason why it’s important to track your cycle beyond just noting if you got your period, or not. You can monitor your ovulation in different ways, whether it be by taking your temperature on a regular basis, or by simply checking the consistency of your cervical mucus with your fingers or looking in your underwear. A peak in your temperature, or discharge that is slippery and clear like egg white, are good indicators that ovulation is taking place.
Knowledge is power. Awareness of women’s health research helps us optimize our health in the present day and prepare us for the future - better than simply relying on traditional or historical knowledge. Our goal at Ourself is to share the knowledge as a way to empower you. For example, many women might brush off osteoporosis as something that happens only to elderly women, or as an event that won’t occur until far into the future. But delving into the research shows us that these potentially negative health events affect us sooner than we realize.
All of these potential issues – like managing a migraine through work, administering the right level of insulin, stopping an asthma attack before it happens, or even preventing a breakout when you least want it – are hormone-related issues that we can manage to improve our lives today. And instead of waiting until perimenopause or menopause to consider bone health, we can make changes to our lifestyle that better prepare us for what lies ahead. Taking a calcium supplement or eating plenty of calcium sources (such as almonds, broccoli, seaweed, or tofu) can be a powerful way to address bone density loss as early as our 30s and 40s. Establishing good habits before and during perimenopause can optimize our health and lead us into menopause better equipped to deal with the potential adverse effects of bone loss and osteoporosis. Paying attention to our bodies and our ovulation can clue us in to what we need to address for our health, right now.
The more we study reproductive hormones of the menstrual cycle, the more we learn how powerfully intertwined these hormones are with the rest of our well-being - regardless of fertility. Ovulation is not just about pregnancy; it’s about maintaining your own health and happiness as well.
References
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Chidi-Ogbolu, Nkechinyere, and Keith Baar. “Effect of Estrogen on Musculoskeletal Performance and Injury Risk.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 9, 1834, 15 Jan. 2019. National Center for Biotechnology Information, doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.01834.
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This information in this article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed provider.
