Note: this article applies to Cyclers using the app with a wearable device. If you use a basal thermometer, please refer to this article instead.
Working shifts and having different sleeping schedules can affect the quality of your temperature data.
If you are a shift worker and using an approved wearable as your measuring device, there are a few things to consider depending on your schedule:
- If you always have the same sleeping schedule, whether you always sleep during the night or day (without shifting between schedules), you don’t need to adjust anything since this is what your body is used to. You can include your temperature every day.
- If you alternate between sleeping schedules on a regular basis, for example, if you sleep during the day five times a week and at night twice a week, it's best to only include your temperature when you’re on the schedule you use the most (in this case, after sleeping during the day) and exclude your temperature readings on the other days.
- If your sleeping schedule is very irregular, and you tend to switch schedules from one day to the next without any specific pattern, this may affect the quality of your data. As a result, the algorithm may struggle to identify your fertility status, which can impact your app experience. If you’d like to discuss your subscription options, please reach out to us and we’d be happy to help.
If you ever need to transition from one long-term sleeping schedule to another, for instance, if you were working the night shift but will switch to a day shift moving forward, you should exclude your temperature on the first 1-2 nights to give your body some time to adjust to the change. After that, you can keep syncing your temperature as you normally would.
The effectiveness of Natural Cycles (93% with typical use and 98% with perfect use) is not impacted by days without temperature data, but you may experience more Red Days, where protection is needed, and this may reduce your satisfaction with using Natural Cycles. Using ovulation tests can help the algorithm pinpoint your ovulation, which can lead to greater satisfaction with using Natural Cycles as NC° Birth Control Cyclers may receive more Green Days, and NC° Plan Pregnancy Cyclers may have a more precise window within which you should try to conceive.
For Oura Ring users
As long as you follow the guidelines above, all you need is at least three hours of sleep for Natural Cycles to receive the temperature trend data from your Oura Ring to calculate your daily fertility status.
An important thing to note is that the Oura Ring tracks your sleep in a 24-hour window from 6 pm to 6 pm each day, otherwise known as Oura’s Sleep Day. It will record one main sleep cycle (which needs to be a minimum of three hours) and show the longest sleep period that has taken place for each Oura Sleep Day. If you sleep during the day past 6 pm, the sleep and temperature trend data will be attributed to the next day. For instance, if you fall asleep at noon on January 1 and wake up at 8 pm on January 1, then the sleep and temperature data will be attributed to January 2. You can read more about Oura’s Sleep Day here.
For Apple Watch users
As long as you follow the guidelines above, all you need is at least four hours of sleep for Natural Cycles to receive the temperature data from your Apple Watch to calculate your daily fertility status.
An important thing to remember is that your wrist temperature is only collected when you have Sleep Focus ON for more than 4 hours during your sleep. You can set up a personalized Sleep Schedule so that Sleep Focus turns itself on automatically each day, or you can manage Sleep Focus manually each day as you wake up or go to bed. To learn more about how to sync your Apple Watch temperature data to the NC° app, you can read more here.