Why do women need to ovulate?
Now you might be thinking, “I don’t need to ovulate because I am not trying to fall pregnant”. WRONG! This is a topic I am super passionate about, and my one goal in life is to teach women why.
An natural ovulatory menstrual cycle involves the production of our hormones, specifically oestrogen and progesterone (and testosterone). This is literally how women make sex hormones. Without these hormones, our bodies can struggle a little. Let’s face it, they are made for our health and wellbeing, not just to make babies!
Each month, in the lead up to ovulation we get a hit of a type of oestrogen called oestradiol. This little weapon helps women to build muscle (just as testosterone does for men); it helps with insulin sensitivity (the hormone that gets the sugar into our cells for energy); and most importantly promotes healthy strong bones, brain and cognitive function, and heart health.
Oestrogen acts all throughout the body, and interestingly has a supportive effect on mood via the production of serotonin and the number of serotonin receptors in the brain. Oestrogen also modulates the production and action of endorphins.
A part of the post baby blues may be due to the abrupt drop in oestrogen after delivery!
Now imagine a life without oestrogen!
After ovulation occurs, if we do not fall pregnant, our follicle (where the egg bursts out of), forms the corpus luteum which starts to pump out progesterone. This little superstar is like Valium in our brains. It is calming, reduces inflammation, helps to support thyroid function, regulates the immune system, and supports healthy brain, breast tissue and bones.
As the wonderful Lara Briden says, “each and every ovulation is like a monthly deposit into the bank account of long term health”.
How do you know if you are ovulating?
Learn more here
There are 3 things I commonly see in practice that affect ovulation:
1. Hormonal Birth Control. These medications switch off ovulation to prevent pregnancy. In doing this, they switch off hormone production. The drugs contained in these things are not the same as oestrogen and progesterone our own bodies make. They do NOT regulate a menstrual cycle… if you aren’t ovulating, you aren’t getting a period, rather a drug withdrawal bleed. I repeat, they DO NOT regulate your menstrual cycle, they switch it off. What implications do you think this might have in young women who are sexually maturing? What might this do to their peak bone mass which peaking right about when they are slapped on the pill for their pimples? Just some food for thought. There is a time and a place for these drugs but I think parents need to be mindful of the potential longer term implications. As for contraception, maybe we need to be better at educating young women about their menstrual cycles, and empower them, as opposed to scaring and supressing. Again, just my opinion.
2. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder that sees anovulatory cycles (not ovulating but potentially still getting a bleed or no bleed at all) as a result of elevations in androgens/ testosterone. This androgen excess is usually coupled with some level of insulin resistance which further fuels the androgen excess…. Its like watching those little mice on their runners in a cage. Now just because you have PCOS does not mean you have to live a life of anovulatory cycles! More on this here
3. Undereating. Whether it be intentional through dieting, or an eating disorder, or unintentional, not getting in enough calories, especially carbohydrate can cause us to lose our ovulatory cycle. Women need carbohydrate to ovulate. Read that again. We call this hypothalamic amenorrhoea, where the brain literally tells the ovaries “nope, no baby making thankyou, we are in a state of famine, we can not procreate at this time”. It is a beautifully smart and simple thing, but something that takes months to recover from (6-12 in most cases).
If you have lost your period or are getting longer cycles (over 35 days), you need to figure out why! Blood testing with your healthcare professional is usually the first port of call.
Take home point: ovarian hormones are vital for women’s short and long term health.