How to know if you are ovulating?

So what actually is ovulation?

Ahhh ovulation, the often overlooked pinnacle of the menstrual cycle. Ovulation itself typically occurs in the middle of the cycle and is where the mature follicle that has developed in the ovary, ruptures and releases the egg into the fallopian tubes. From here the egg can be fertilised (or not) by sperm - depending on if that’s your jam or not.

In my opinion, ovulation is the key event of the menstrual cycle!! Why?

We need it to have a fertile cycle, but it is also important to remember that after we ovulate, the ruptured follicle in the ovary will become a gland that will produce both of our sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone. So, if we don’t ovulate, then we don’t produce both of our hormones, and as we know, both of these hormones are so important for our health! 

How do we know if we have ovulated?

In research, the gold standard is to use trans-vaginal ultrasound, where you try and capture the rupturing of the follicle. Basically, you try and see ovulation occur in the ultrasound. But this method is probably not the world’s most user-friendly way to check if you ovulate.

Another method is to use a urinary ovulation test, that you can buy at the pharmacy. Really, these should be called urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) tests, because they measure the concentration of LH in a woman’s urine. LH is the hormone that at its peak causes ovulation to occur. If your urine LH/ovulation test is positive, then it is a pretty good indicator of high LH levels that can cause ovulation.

Sadly, the urinary LH/ovulation test doesn’t confirm that ovulation has occurred. For this you need to do a blood test a week after the positive LH/ovulation urine test. We do this to measure progesterone levels. In a fertile cycle, you need both ovulation to occur and high progesterone levels. This blood test a week later allows us to check this.

If you don't feel like spending money, then you can check if you have ovulated by looking rrrat your cervical mucous. Generally, you may see that it becomes clear, quite slippery, and there is quite a bit of it (you feel wet). I often describe it as a few days in my cycle where it looks like I have egg whites in my pants. Yum!

Finally, another way to check if you ovulate is to measure your resting body temperature. For the best results, you can use fertility thermometers, which you can buy at a pharmacy. You should take your temperature first thing in the morning as you wake up. This means taking your temperature before moving, before going to the toilet and before eating. If you ovulate and have high progesterone levels, then you will see an increase in your temperature by ~0.2-0.3 degrees for the last 10-14 days of your cycle. Some of the newer wearables track body temperature and have started providing this feature for many women (e.g. the newer Apple watch models or the Oura ring). Please keep in mind, while these are good at giving you an estimate of body temperature and the changes that occur, they will not be as accurate as a first thing in the morning temperature measure with a thermometer.

Why ovulation rules?

Knowing where or if you ovulate is not only something we should do as women if we are looking at getting pregnant, it is something we should do if we have a natural cycle. Purely to learn about key features of our cycle and what our cycle looks like. Knowing the importance of our female hormones and that they are intricately linked to ovulation means we can feel confident we are reaping the benefits of our sex hormones. So, ladies and those who menstruate, get out there and test yourself and if you’re keeping costs down just look for the egg whites in your pants.