When trying to conceive turns into a mystery and a labor of love, charting basal body temperature (BBT) is a proactive and inexpensive way to find some answers.
What you’ll need:
- A digital basal thermometer
- A paper or digital way to record cycle day on the x axis and waking temperature on the y axis (There are lots of apps for that!)
- A scientist’s mind: Replicate the way you take your temperature every morning as soon as you wake – before kissing your partner, before petting your cat or dog, before moving around or doing anything else.
A well-known reason to chart BBT is to determine if, when and how smoothly ovulation is occurring.
The lens of Chinese medicine gives us another reason
Maintaining a BBT chart can illuminate these temperature irregularities or imbalances that can impact fertility:
- Excess heat (temperatures are too high during the follicular phase before ovulation).
- Deficiency (temperatures are too low in the luteal phase after ovulation).
- Stagnant Qi and Blood (temperatures are erratic).
I encourage my clients to chart BBT unless the act of doing so becomes an added emotional stressor.
If you like to feel like you are in the driver’s seat, then chart your BBT
The information it yields can help diagnose and resolve other potential barriers to conception even when modern diagnostic techniques may not detect any clinical abnormalities.1
1 Lewis, R., 2004. “The Infertility Cure: The Ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies.” Little, Brown and Company, New York.