Natural Cycles is the first medically proven method that allows users to track their monthly cycle and use the information as a form of contraceptive all with the help of an app.
The app first sets up the user’s profile by using body temperature to understand their monthly cycle. During each month the body’s temperature rises and falls due to changing progesterone levels.
In order to effectively set up the profile, the user must take their temperature as soon as they wake up, even before getting out of bed.
Once the profile is complete, the app will then let the user know which days are green days, or a day that’s safe to have intercourse without a form of birth control, and which days are red days, days that require a method of contraceptive.
The app has roughly 100,000 users, according to Total Women’s Cycling, and users rave that it’s effective.
And this new method of taking control of one’s cycle naturally may become more popular over time. More studies are showing how birth control is being linked to depression in its users.
In a study published by the JAMA Psychiatry Journal, 30 percent of women who used birth control quit all together due to side effects in their mood, one of which was depression, according to CNN.
Because birth control has an effect on progesterone and estrogen levels in the body, many women report mood swings and eventually feeling depressed.
Natural Cycles is available for download on iTunes for a monthly price of $8.99, or a one time yearly price of $64.99.
User’s can even try a free month to see if the app is right for them.
