On your way to a healthier 2025? Don’t forget to add “learn about my body” to your New Year’s resolutions! Fertility appreciation is a natural, non-invasive, and hormone-free way to better understand a crucial marker of women’s healthcare – our fertility! Learning about your fertility can help you to be an active participant in your own health.

Biomarkers are vital external signs that clue us in to what is going on inside our bodies every cycle. 

1. Menstruation. We call menstruation a vital sign because estrogen and progesterone cause the lining of the uterus to thicken. Each cycle, the body prepares a place for a baby to grow. If pregnancy doesn’t occur, hormones fall and the lining sheds. When hormones are healthy, they develop a thick uterine lining. So healthy menstruation is a sign of healthy hormones.
2. Cervical Mucus. Cervical mucus is also a vital sign because estrogen and progesterone cause the cervix to produce mucus. Estrogen causes mucus that begins moist and becomes slippery and Progesterone causes thick mucus often experienced as dryness. When hormones are healthy, they produce these types of cervical mucus during the cycle.
3. Temperature. Primarily, this means a woman’s basal body temperature, which slightly increases after ovulation.
4. Cervical position.During menstrual bleeding, the cervix is normally low, hard, and slightly open. As you approach ovulation, the cervix rises up to the top of the vagina and becomes softer, and opens. After ovulation, the cervix drops lower and becomes more firm and closed. 
5. Symptoms. Other symptoms could include physical symptoms like headaches, acne, menstrual cramps, bloating, breast tenderness, constipation, cravings, and fatigue. Emotional symptoms could include anxiety, inability to focus, crying spells, insomnia, mood swings, anger, and more. 

Think of these biomarkers as your body’s way of communicating to you! 

Did you know?

The mysterious white mucusy stuff you find on your underwear between your periods is an essential part of your cycle. It’s called cervical fluid. And without cervical fluid, conception can’t happen. Women and girls can look for cervical mucus as a sign of her fertility. This is a mucus produced by a woman’s cervix and it is completely normal and healthy!! Fertile cervical fluid helps to protect and feed the sperm. Infertile cervical fluid acts as a barrier to sperm. Sperm can live in healthy estrogenic mucus for up to 5 days. (This is why it would be important to learn your own unique fertile days by observing biomarkers, and not relying on a calendar)

When you are not in the ovulation phase, you will feel dry, with no fluid. When ovulation is getting close, the mucus will be sticky and damp, and usually look whitish. As you get closer to ovulation, the mucus will be creamy and wet, and look very cloudy. Finally, when you ovulate, the mucus will be very wet, stretchy, and slippery. It will seem almost like egg whites. 

As you keep track of these biomarkers, you can observe patterns and connections to hormonal health and identify potential hormonal imbalance. It’s important that if you choose to use an app to track your cycle, that YOU are importing your daily observations, NOT the app telling YOU when you’re likely going to ovulate or get your period. Every woman is different! And just because you ovulate on cycle day 14 one cycle doesn’t mean you will ovulate on cycle day 14 next cycle. 

Want to learn more? Register for a FREE Fertility Consult, or register for our upcoming classes!