A simple procedure that will protect your hormones, general health and immunity!
Tracking your basal body temperature:
helps you track your hormones: you'll know where you are in your hormonal cycle, which will guide you on how to choose better your foods and supplements,
helps you track your immunity: if you observe an unusual spike of high temperature during your follicular phase, and if that is associated with an unusually high resting heart rate (if you use Oura, Garmin or Whoop you'll also have sleep data available), be warned that you're likely fighting a cold, flu, indigestion, etc. so... take it easier that day, cancel your hard trainings and rest more, to help your body fight better and get back on track faster, and
helps you track your thyroid function: if you observe an unusual spike of lower temperature than 36C, know that's likely a moment when your thyroid is challenged. Take rest, work on lowering your stress levels and if the situation persists, book a GP consultation and ask them to check your thyroid function.
While this article will bring you a variety of ideas about how to track your data, the fastest and less costly to do it is by using:
a thermometer, and
the tracker below:
Basal Body Temperature:
1. You can use a thermometer with 2 decimals or choose to wear a device: an Oura ring, a smart watch (Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra, a Garmin Venu 3 or a Garmin Fenix 8 - a good choice especially if you're a sporty bee), or a Whoop bracelet.
I’ve used a thermometer and taken my basal body temperature sublingually for about 3 years and I can assure you that it is a very relevant practice if performed it correctly.
In the past 4 years, I’ve used an Oura ring, I find it a reliable device – it tracks the body temperature during the night along with your sleep data, resting heart rate and heart rate variability (amongst other aspects).
2. If you use a thermometer: make sure to take your temperature immediately upon waking up, the first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed or engaging in any activity, talking or drinking water.
3. Consistency is key: take your temperature every morning, and preferably after at least 3-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If use the toilet during the night between 2am and 4am is still OK to take your temperature in the morning, assuming that you wake up the earliest at 6am.
4. If you use a thermometer you can take your temperature orally / sublingually, rectally, or vaginally. Whichever method you choose: stick to it throughout your cycle for consistency.
5. Record the temperature in an application and fill it in the perimenopause symptoms tracker below.
I’ve used Natural Cycles application for about 7 years now: it is amazing to be able to look back to your own data / history, and even after a few hormonal cycles you’ll have enough data to compare, understand your own algorhytm and associated body signals.
6. Note any factors that might affect your temperature: record any illness, disrupted sleep, alcohol consumption, or other factors that could influence the temperature.
7. Then, the fun part starts: looking for patterns. A slight rise in temperature (typically 0.2°C to 0.5°C) indicates that ovulation has occurred, which is the most valuable information to guide you in changing your game – for food and not only.
Here are some examples of my own hormonal cycles over the years: this is how different our cycles can be, and tracking our cycle and temperature simply allows us to change our health strategy and support ourselves better.
I'm 45yo, in full perimenopause transition. I've been using for over 7 years the application from Natural Cycles. While this is not a free application, they will not sell your data, is a reliable one and it is an easy one to use.
If you also use an Oura ring, you can go ahead synchronizing the two application.
One can use Natural Cycle not only to track the cycle and hormonal fluctuations but also to protect herself from pregnancy, to plan for a pregnancy or to recover after a pregnancy - they make valuable predictions and they make it easy.
I have all my 7 years data in the application: all my hormonal history, the moments when my hormones started to change and when I needed to make different choices during my own journey.
(I am not sponsored by any of them, but I just love their stuff and fully recommend it.
Below: a picture of data synchronization between Oura and Natural Cycles.)
Now, the downside of using the above only is that none of these applications includes a comprehensive list of hormonal symptoms - and let's face it: sometimes we don't pay attention to our own energy, we are very easily distracted and ...we tend ignoring our own selves. We generally tend to give attention to a symptom not when it's just starting, but when we can't bare the discomfort anymore.
To prevent this and to help you listen to your body, I've created a Perimenopause Symptoms tracking tool (that you can download at the beginning of the article).
Place it on your night table and give it a look every evening, scanning through the different sections and marking whatever you’ve manifested during the day: it is a most valuable exercise and it will help you to anticipate, and predict your symptoms the following month.
In a few months of tracking your cycle, you’ll be able to adjust your food and lifestyle in a very prompt manner, taking control and alleviating or eliminating symptoms.
I find it an interesting aspect that the majority of the women I've worked with tell me at the beginning that "they don't have any symptoms"... only to realize in a few weeks how many symptoms they lived with, and silently ignored
Using a tracker offers you an amazing "check-in with yourself" daily moment, that will greatly increase your awareness about your body.
I know that all the above may look like a slow process now before you’ll start it.
Think, however: how long some symptoms may have bothered you?
Digestive symptoms, tensions in your ovaries, acne, a terrible recurrent migraine, breast soreness, brain fog or fatigue, etc.
Taking 2-3 months of tracking your hormonal cycle, in just a few minutes a day will allow you to fix your hormones BY YOURSELF:
it is actually a VERY FAST process and an empowering one.
Needless to say: if you want to improve something, just track it ;-)
If you're interested to learn more about this topic and how to support your hormones, I invite you to register for the free webinar below on Tuesday 22.10 at 19h CET :