How to calculate your ovulation period?

Whether you are in the process of better understanding your body or considering pregnancy, knowing your ovulation period and tracking your ovulation is particularly interesting. But how to calculate your ovulation period ? Is it different when you have a menstrual cycle that is shorter or longer than average or when you have an irregular menstrual cycle? In this article, we offer you a method to calculate your ovulation while giving you keys and advice in case your cycle has a duration that is outside the average.

A quick reminder of what ovulation is

Before going further in this article on calculating your ovulation, it is essential to spend a few moments on ovulation. The latter corresponds to the natural process which results in the release of a mature egg from one of the ovaries of a woman of childbearing age. This is the essential condition for fertilization and pregnancy of natural origin. It is an integral part of the menstrual cycle and ovulation is even the second phase of the menstrual cycle.

👉 Do you want to know more about the ovulation process and its direct link with the menstrual cycle? Consult our article Everything you need to know about ovulation. It covers all the elements you need to know about how ovulation works.

Why is it important to track your ovulation period?

Monitoring your ovulation period is particularly important because it allows you to reclaim your body by controlling it better, to monitor your ovulation symptoms and to conceive a baby.

Reclaiming your body

The first reason to understand yourself and track your ovulation is to better understand what is happening in your body. As people who menstruate, ignoring our menstrual cycle and its impact on our body, our hormones, and our well-being can be annoying. Understanding our cycle and our ovulation means knowing our body better and better anticipating problems.

To spot your ovulation symptoms

Ovulation is accompanied, like periods and the famous premenstrual syndrome, by symptoms such as stomach spasms and chest pain, vaginal discharge and so on. Knowing these symptoms means knowing your body, on the one hand, but it also means giving yourself the ability to play down particular symptoms and spot abnormal situations. Even more, it also means developing the ability to spot your ovulation – we'll talk about it right after!

To conceive a baby

The third reason to track your ovulation is to be able to spot your ovulation and thus increase your chances of getting pregnant if that is your desire. The fertile window for menstruating people lasts 5 days, 2 of which follow ovulation. Being able to track your ovulation allows you to put all the chances on your side in the context of a conception project.

To avoid getting pregnant

Some women use tracking their ovulation as contraception with the true but somewhat dangerous idea that in the absence of ovulation, they cannot get pregnant. However, monitoring your ovulation is a method of contraception that cannot be sufficient in itself: in fact, the fertile window begins two to three days before ovulation and ends two days after. Not to mention that other elements can come into play, such as double ovulation, for example. This is why we recommend that you do not just trust your ovulation tracker to avoid getting pregnant.

When does ovulation take place?

Regardless of the length of your menstrual cycle (average menstrual cycle 26 to 32 days, long menstrual cycle, greater than 32 days, or short menstrual cycle, less than 26 days), ovulation occurs 14 days before the occurrence from the first day of menstruation.

There are some exceptions to this rule, notably in the context of very short menstrual cycles, less than 21 days. They can be linked to health problems or specific hormonal imbalances (PCOS, endometriosis, or even thyroid problems). These problems can cause ovulation to not go well or at all (anovulation). We told you about it in our article on short menstrual cycles.

How to calculate your ovulation date?

There are different methods to calculate your ovulation date or in any case, to better anticipate it. Knowing your ovulation date each cycle will allow you to have a more precise idea of ​​your fertile window.

Depending on the length of your menstrual cycle

The first way to estimate your ovulation is to base yourself on the length of your menstrual cycle. Here is the method to calculate your ovulation using the length of your cycle and we then offer you examples depending on the length of your cycle!

Method to calculate your ovulation using the length of your menstrual cycle

How it works ? As we mentioned earlier, ovulation occurs 14 days before the first day of your period. This means subtracting 14 days from the length of your menstrual cycle to find out on which day of your cycle you should ovulate.

Steps :

1. Calculate the length of your menstrual cycle: For this method, knowing the length of your menstrual cycle is essential! Find the method for calculating the length of your menstrual cycle in our article on The length of the menstrual cycle;
2. Subtract 14 days from the length of your menstrual cycle, you get a number: this is the day of your cycle on which your ovulation takes place;
3. Track your menstrual cycle to identify this day.

So-called “normal” menstrual cycle

For a cycle with an average duration of 28 days, the calculation is as follows:

28 days - 14 days = 14

In other words, if your menstrual cycle has an average length of 28 days, your ovulation day occurs on the 14th day of your menstrual cycle, which is 14 days after the occurrence of your first day of period.

Short menstrual cycle

If your menstrual cycle has a rather short duration of 22 days, the calculation is as follows:

22 days - 14 days = 8

In other words, if your menstrual cycle has an average length of 22 days, your ovulation day occurs on the 8th day of your menstrual cycle, which is 8 days after the occurrence of your first day of period.

Long menstrual cycle

If your menstrual cycle has a rather short duration of 34 days, the calculation is as follows:

34 days - 14 days = 20

In other words, if your menstrual cycle has an average length of 34 days, your ovulation day occurs on the 22nd day of your menstrual cycle, which is 22 days after the occurrence of your first day of period.

Irregular menstrual cycle

You can use this calculation method and have a fairly precise idea of ​​your ovulation day if the length of your cycle varies by 1 or 2 days maximum. If your cycle is more irregular, this method will not be relevant for you to predict your ovulation and you will have to use another one. We offer you three other methods to predict your ovulation below!

According to your basal temperature

The second way to estimate your ovulation is to follow the evolution of your basal body temperature (also called TCB for short).

How it works ? The body temperature of menstruating people changes throughout the menstrual cycle. If the body temperature is below 37 degrees Celsius, it drops just before ovulation and then rises above 37°C during the luteal phase (after ovulation). In case of pregnancy, the basal body temperature remains above 37°C for at least 10 to 14 days, until the next menstruation is due.

Steps :

1. Acquire a basal thermometer : it is in fact not possible to monitor your basal temperature with a traditional thermometer;
2. Take your temperature about 5 times a week: it is essential to take it regularly to monitor its variations. To report it, you can use a cycle tracking application or an application specific to monitoring basal temperature;
3. Identify variations in your body temperature: if the temperature drops then rises again, you can assess that you have just ovulated.

Depending on your ovulation symptoms

The third way to anticipate your ovulation is to know and follow your ovulation symptoms. These depend on the woman: some can be significant, even painful, while other women will not feel them. Don't feel guilty if you don't feel them or only some of them.

Mild ovarian pain (pinching)

At the time of ovulation, some women feel a slight twinge in their stomach, like pain in the ovaries, where the egg is released. The location depends largely on the person: in general, the pinch is felt in the lower abdomen, on the side where the ovary that released the egg is located.

Chest pain (feeling of swelling)

Menstruating people who are sensitive in the chest area may experience pain during ovulation in this area. The chest feels swollen, ready to explode, and is particularly sensitive to the touch. This discomfort can sometimes continue until the next period is due, 14 days after ovulation.

Translucent white discharge, similar to egg white

White discharge changes depending on the cycle. They notably change texture and color when ovulation occurs. They become more viscous and translucent. Slippery, they promote the movement of sperm in the genitals.

If you notice one or more of these symptoms, it is likely that you are about to ovulate or have just occurred. You can combine this monitoring method with the two previous methods to be sure of your feelings.

A tool to track your ovulation: menstrual cycle tracking apps

Let's conclude this article by mentioning a tool that will allow you to compile all of these methods (calculate your menstrual cycle, record your basal temperature or even track your symptoms throughout your cycle): menstrual cycle tracking applications.

The advantages of these applications are:

1. Their practicality: you certainly always have your phone with you: you feel any symptoms, you can easily note it. Unless you need to check where you are in your cycle: all you have to do is take out your phone!
2. Their simplicity: a stomach pain, a headache, mucus a little more fluid than the day before: in a few clicks, you can report your symptoms and record them;
3. Their pedagogy: a majority of applications offer educational content to answer your questions in real time. You can also consult our blog articles to find out more!
4. Their adaptation: we spoke to you, a little earlier in this article, about the method for calculating your ovulation based on the length of your menstrual cycle. Well, the applications save you from this calculation, they do it for you: you give them information about your cycle and they take care of calculating the length of your menstrual cycle and calculating your most likely ovulation day!

In short, we can only recommend that you take a menstrual cycle tracking application to help you calculate your ovulation date and track its symptoms. This will make your life a lot easier and reduce the mental load associated with tracking your menstrual cycle.

There are many applications, very different from each other and with quite varied objectives (getting pregnant, tracking your cycle, etc.). We recently presented them to you in a complete article, in the form of a comparison between existing cycle tracking applications.