Basal body temperature
| Basal body temperature | |
|---|---|
| Background | |
| Type | Fertility awareness |
| First use | 1930s |
| Failure rates (first year) | |
| Perfect use | 0.3% |
| Typical use | 3.1% |
| Usage | |
| Reversibility | Immediate |
| User reminders | Dependent upon strict user adherence to methodology |
| Advantages and disadvantages | |
| STI protection | No |
| Period advantages | Prediction |
| Weight gain | No |
| Benefits | No side effects, can aid pregnancy achievement |
Basal body temperature (BBT) is the lowest body temperature attained during rest (usually during sleep). It is usually estimated by a temperature measurement immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been undertaken. This will lead to a somewhat higher value than the true BBT (see Fig. 1). For more accurate results, it is determined by using internally worn temperature loggers. In women, ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit (one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius) in BBT; monitoring of BBTs is one way of estimating the day of ovulation. The tendency of a woman to have lower temperatures before ovulation, and higher temperatures afterwards, is known as a pattern. Charting of this pattern may be used as a component of fertility awareness. The BBT of men is comparable to the BBT of women in their follicular phase.
The higher levels of estrogen present during the pre-ovulatory (follicular) phase of the menstrual cycle lower BBTs. The higher levels of progesterone released by the corpus luteum after ovulation raise BBTs. The rise in temperatures can most commonly be seen the day after ovulation, but this varies and BBTs can only be used to estimate ovulation within a three-day range.
If pregnancy does not occur, the disintegration of the corpus luteum causes a drop in BBTs that roughly coincides with the onset of the next menstruation. If pregnancy does occur, the corpus luteum continues to function (and maintain high BBTs) for the first trimester of the pregnancy. After the first trimester, the woman's body temperature drops to her pre-ovulatory normal as the placenta takes over functions previously performed by the corpus luteum.
Very rarely, the corpus luteum may form a cyst. A corpus luteum cyst will cause BBTs to stay elevated and prevent menstruation from occurring until it resolves, which could take weeks or months.
Regular menstrual cycles are often taken as evidence that a woman is ovulating normally, and irregular cycles is evidence she is not. However, many women with irregular cycles do ovulate normally, and some with regular cycles are actually anovulatory or have a luteal phase defect. Records of basal body temperature can be used to accurately determine if a woman is ovulating, and if the length of the post-ovulatory (luteal) phase of her menstrual cycle is sufficient to sustain a pregnancy. Some fertility computers and software, such as Lady-Comp, can help a woman to determine these factors.
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