In the era of hormonal or medicalised contraception, the search for an option that doesn’t necessarily act invasively on the body is a tough one. With women’s health being a complex, personal and, at times, political concern, the respect for individual choice and freedom in choosing options relating to contraception is fundamental. For women seeking perhaps a more natural means, or who are trying to embrace methods that allow them to discover more about the rhythm and cycles of their bodies, it seemed that, until recently, few options were available to them. This is where Natural Cycles enters into the game.
Offering an alternative to the classic solutions, Natural Cycles is the application bringing a concrete option to the table. With its ground-breaking principle of aligning new available technologies to the body, the very concept of contraception is being rethought. Natural Cycles is the only app to be cleared by regulators in Europe and the US as a method of contraception. It uses an algorithm to analyse basal body temperature, which is entered into the app at least five time a week, identifying the days on which a user is fertile and needs to use protection (or abstain).
Created from a base of clinical studies carried out specifically for the app, the success of Natural Cycles is anchored in its scientific foundation – with the core team of the brand built of researchers, experts in their fields. The typical use effectiveness of Natural Cycles is 93% – this is based on common use of the app, which takes into account human error such as not using protection on every red day.
Concretely, then, how does it work? The basis of Natural Cycles is the routine – the app user measures her temperature under the tongue once a day in the morning, logs the temperature in the app and adds any menstruation data to complete the necessary information for calculating cycles. The unique algorithm calculates and indicates whether the user has a “red day” (fertile) or a “green day” (not fertile), based on changes in basal body temperature. In the case of a red day, the user is required to use protection or abstain from intercourse on that day.
The number of green days increases as the algorithm gets to know each woman’s individual cycle pattern. There are, of course, factors that can influence the regularity or frequency of these days, such as irregular cycles or the fact of having recently discontinued the use of hormonal contraception. The important point to note is that the effectiveness of Natural Cycles depends on the willingness to abstain from sex or use protection on the red days.
With their personalised and scientific approach, Natural Cycles has opened a new chapter for women who are keen for a non-invasive and hormone free method of contraception.
Discover the app Natural Cycles for yourself here.
