BBT BASICS

If you’ve never heard of BBT, it stands for “basal body temperature” and it refers to your waking body temperature after a night of sleep. For women who ovulate regularly, basal body temps fluctuate throughout the month in tandem with their hormonal fluctuations and reveal very useful information for women who are trying to conceive.

If you need a refresher on the female hormone cycle, see my post Hormone Cycle Basics Everyone with a Uterus Should Know.

WHY IS A BBT CHART USEFUL?

BBT charting is useful for women who are between menarche and menopause and who want to track the timing of their ovulation, which is helpful in a variety of situations. It’s also a useful tool for me as a Chinese Medicine practitioner, because it gives me clues about what’s going on hormonally throughout the menstrual cycle. The BBT chart as a whole is one of the data points that I use to formulate my acupuncture and herbal medicine treatments for women who are trying to conceive or trying to get their hormones balanced.

WHO SHOULD TRACK THEIR BBT?

Because a BBT chart reveals if and when you ovulated in a given month, it is useful if you:

• Are trying to conceive

• Are using the Fertility Awareness Method to avoid pregnancy without hormonal contraception

• Have signs of hormone imbalance

WHAT SHOULD MY BBT CHART LOOK LIKE?

Below is an example of an ideal BBT Chart. I say “ideal” because it follows the basic guidelines that reflect hormone balance and a robust, timely ovulation. In real life, your BBT chart will probably look messier, and it may look very different from the ideal if you are contending with some kind of hormonal imbalance.

OVULATION

The main characteristic that you will see in the sample chart is that it is biphasic, meaning that it has two sections with distinct temperature levels. The catalyst for the dramatic temperature shift is the key event in the hormonal cycle: ovulation. Just after ovulation there is an elevation in basal body temperature that lasts through Cycle Day 28. This temperature change is a result of progesterone, which is produced following ovulation. (When progesterone drops, menstruation begins.)

WHAT IF MY CHART LOOKS DIFFERENT?

All BBT charts are distinct—they are all variations on a theme. But if you can’t find a pattern in your chart or if it looks quite different from the sample, I recommend bringing your chart to someone who can interpret it for you and help you get your cycle regulated if need be. A Chinese Medicine practitioner who works with female hormone balance is a great person to start with, because we have acupuncture, herbal medicine, and a full holistic medicine system at our disposal to help you rebalance your health naturally.

READY TO GET STARTED?

Learn how to track your BBT by checking out my post BBT Charting Instructions.