What are irregular cycles?
Menstrual cycles are considered irregular depending on their length and how much they vary from one cycle to another.
Your cycles could be considered irregular if you experience big variations in length from one cycle to the next (for instance, if one cycle is 23 days long and the next is 35 days long).
Your cycles may be also considered irregular if each cycle is similar in length, but this length is shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days.
Menstrual cycles are not always regular, and small, infrequent irregularities are quite common.
Bigger irregularities can occur due to several factors related to health and lifestyle, such as:
- Illness/Medicine
- Recent use of hormonal birth control (or emergency contraception)
- Stress/anxiety
- Travel
- Extensive use of alcohol/smoking/drugs
- Changes to routines
- Increased activity/sports
- Accidents/shock
- Low/High BMI
- Severe diets or eating disorders
- Cycle conditions (such as PCOS, endometriosis, etc)
You can continue to read about irregular cycles in the following blog post.
Can I use Natural Cycles if I have irregular cycles?
Yes, you can use Natural Cycles if you have irregular cycles.
Natural Cycles captures your unique cycle patterns by taking cycle irregularity, temperature fluctuations, recent use of hormonal contraception, ovulation day variation, sperm survival, and several other essential factors into consideration to provide a tailor-made solution for each individual.
For NC° Birth Control
Natural Cycles’ effectiveness as a birth control method is not affected by irregular cycles. You may, however, experience an increased number of red days, which can reduce your satisfaction with Natural Cycles. You can still trust the green days that you get (in the Today view).
For NC° Plan Pregnancy
If you have irregular cycles, Natural Cycles will still work for you. Depending on the types of irregularities you experience, it may be harder for the algorithm to accurately predict your ovulation, and you may get more brown days, where the app says “More data needed”. To help the algorithm narrow down your most fertile days in the cycle, it’s a good idea to combine temperature data with LH tests.