Do you believe an app can tell you if you’re fertile? Because it could be the future

Katherine holds a thermometer under her tongue for 30 seconds every morning. She takes her temperature and records the results in an app on her mobile phone. After 1 minute, her screen emits either a crimson or bright emerald color. The latter lets her know she’s not pregnant, the former means she should use her protection if she’s having sex that day, a 30-year-old woman is a natural I am using cycle. It’s the first birth control app approved by her FDA in America. Think of it like a standard period tracker app that only works with a very personal kind of algorithm.

Natural Cycles allows users to plan and prevent pregnancies. Prevention is the most popular use among young women. However, there are some complications (and disclaimers) about the app that you should be aware of first. The user’s basal body temperature, or completely resting body temperature, should be recorded each morning upon awakening. That means you don’t have to snooze your alarm. You can’t have a drink, leave your bed, or leave your pillow before reading. Additionally, the app advises users to skip sending measurements if they had alcohol the night before. Or even if you don’t feel well, or wake up two hours earlier or later than usual.

At £59.99/year or £8.99/month, the mobile app was certified by the European Union in 2017. However, in the UK, the NHS does not recommend the app as a method of birth control. Claims to be 98% effective in preventing and 93% effective with average use. Currently, there are 2 million users of her around the world, and more could be added in the future. It is deployed all over the world with the support of many influencers. You can’t miss an ad on your Instagram or TikTok feed these days.

recently i’m a celebrity…get me out of here Contestant Olivia Atwood promotes the Natural Cycle. Essex is the only waywith Amber Turner of Marriage at first sightof Jessica Power. What this ad has in common is that the influencer refers to a common belief among women who have used birth control before: “hormones are garbage.” Horror stories of her painful IUD coil placement, endless periods, and mood swings from birth control pills are commonplace. “I tried a lot of drugs when I was younger,” Atwood wrote in the app’s promotional post. So when I found @naturalcycles, oh my god, it was like a golden ticket.”

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Jana Abelovska, head pharmacist at Click Pharmacy, explains that more and more young women are refusing traditional hormonal contraceptives because they are fed up with the side effects. Common contraceptives such as IUD coils and combination pills can cause headaches, mood swings, weight gain, acne, nausea, and many other problems. “Hormonal contraceptives [like the IUD coil or combined pill] It can even lead to increased blood pressure and decreased libido,” adds Abelovska. For many Natural Cycles users, this app seems like a much-needed alternative.

Katherine began receiving targeted ads for Natural Cycle on her Instagram feed last year. Like Attwood, she decided to give the app a try after a difficult experience with the birth control pill. “I’ve been pumping hormones into her body for over 12 years, so I thought it was time for a break,” she says, who says her own experience has been a positive one. “[Natural Cycles] I am more in tune with my body.I noticed a difference in my stomach, including bloating [before my period]and pain in my chest and ovaries.

Fertility expert Elizabeth King

However, there is a risk that such overblown social media marketing can mislead as to the app’s effectiveness. Her Nic, 25, used Natural Cycles for 6 months until she got pregnant and had to seek an abortion. “I really liked the idea of ​​Natural Cycles,” she says.

After taking microgynon (a combination birth control pill) for 10 years, Nick decided to stop using hormonal birth control. It had such a strong effect on her mental health, she says, that she felt like a different person.IUD Her coil was equally useless and her period was “irregular.” she says. Natural Cycles seemed like the only option she had left. Nic admits he wasn’t feeding the Natural Cycles algorithm as accurately or consistently as it should have been, but he found the process difficult, especially compared to swallowing small pills every day. “Everything is tricky,” she says. “The first thing you have to do when you wake up is take your temperature, and you have to record it at that moment.” It seems to incorporate a slight touch-and-go approach to fertility.

Ah British Journal of Medicine A published paper published by scientists working with Natural Cycles in 2018 found that using the app worked best for people transitioning from less effective methods. This includes condoms that are about 87% effective with regular use. Fertility expert Elizabeth King recommends that anyone trying to prevent pregnancy using Natural Cycles also use a condom, just in case “the algorithm isn’t accurate.” She suggests that this fertility treatment could be effective for many people if the correct information was recorded correctly.[But] If that’s your only method of birth control, this app isn’t 100% effective. “

Chief pharmacist Abelovska agrees, adding that basal body temperature needs to be measured carefully for the algorithm to be correct and the app’s results to be effective. She recommends users also use condoms for added protection. “If users miss a temperature check, they should use barrier contraception, such as condoms, to avoid accidental pregnancies while the app’s algorithm automatically corrects,” she said.

In a statement, a Natural Cycles representative said the app’s “actual effectiveness rate matches the published rate.” We can also confirm that the rate is 0.5%, which means that less than 1 in 100 women become pregnant for this reason. I am proud of my sexuality and rate it highly.”

Will an app like Natural Cycles become widely accepted and administered as a form of birth control? King doesn’t think so. She believes medical professionals refrain from recommending methods of fertility treatment, largely because of how difficult it is for people to track their cycles and body temperature daily. is easier to transition to traditional contraception such as the pill or hormone therapy,” she says.

No method of contraception comes without warning. Unfortunately, no birth control method is 100% effective or free of side effects. But Natural Cycles isn’t as spooky as it seems, despite its vaguely dystopian look. If anything, it’s just a digitized version of the “Fertility Recognition Act.” Or arguably the oldest contraceptive method in the book, it existed long before condoms and coils were invented. I don’t know yet if I will like it enough.