What is Ovulation?
During your monthly cycle, you should experience ovulation at least once. Ovulation is extremely important for women's health because it indicates hormone balance and fertility. Having ovulation means that you are in a generally healthy spot hormonally. Here we will dive deeper into what is ovulation and it is so important.
Here are 5 things that will help you understand what is ovulation:
1. Middle of your cycle
The first thing you know when learning what is ovulation is that it generally occurs in the middle of your cycle. Day 1 of your cycle is the first day of your period or menstruation and subsequently, the last day of your cycle is the day before you have your next period. The whole cycle can be anywhere between 21 and 34 days in length on average. Ovulation normally occurs on day 13-15 of your cycle in the middle between periods. At this time the follicular phase has ended, and you are about to enter the luteal phase.
Source: 29255329
2. Hormone Peak
The next thing to know about what is ovulation is that this is the point where hormone levels are at their peak. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, FSH, and LH all are rising on the day of ovulation. They do this to promote fertility. Having high hormones ensures that the body is ready to receive the sperm for fertilization to permeate the egg. All of these hormones have an important function for ovulation and fertility. Estrogen prepares the endometrium and builds up the uterine wall. Progesterone promotes fertilization by thinning out the cervical fluid and promoting the egg to mature and flow into the fallopian tube. This is one of the most important hormones during ovulation, although progesterone will continue to rise after ovulation if fertilization occurs. Testosterone helps improve libido during this day to promote the entrance of the sperm. FSH or follicular stimulating hormone helps to mature the egg in the ovary for it to be released. LH or luteinizing hormone helps signal the ovary to release the egg.
Source: NIH
3. Releasing an Egg
Another important thing to know about ovulation is that it is the action of the ovary releasing the egg. In the ovary, there are follicles that contain eggs. These follicles start out as immature, so they need help from hormones to develop them to mature follicles. At this time LH and FSH will help burst the follicle to release the egg into the fallopian tube. What is leftover from the follicle is now called the corpus luteum which will grow and produce progesterone to promote ovulation.
Source: NIH
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4. Fertility
Fertility is another thing to know about what is ovulation. The ability to produce offspring and/or maintain a healthy full-term pregnancy is what defines fertility. In order to produce offspring, the body needs to have balanced hormone levels. When ovulation occurs, this is a good indicator that hormone levels are balanced and you are fertile. If hormone levels are imbalanced then reproductive processes will not be carried out properly. As a result, you become infertile and can not carry out a full-term pregnancy. Fertility is important for reasons other than reproduction because considering being fertile occurs when you ovulate each month, this shows that you have healthy hormone levels. All of the hormones in our body are connected so when the reproductive hormones are balanced many of the body’s other hormones should be balanced too.
Source: NIH
5. Hormone Balance
Another thing to know about what is ovulation is that it results in hormone balance. As mentioned, many hormones need to work together to make ovulation happen. Estrogen, progesterone, FSH, LH, and testosterone are the reproductive hormones that are involved with ovulation. The ratios of the hormones are also important. For example, estrogen dominance is when estrogen is higher than progesterone this causes problems specifically it inhibits ovulation. Estrogen dominance can occur in 3 ways high estrogen normal progesterone, high estrogen low progesterone, or normal estrogen and low progesterone. In these situations, there is not enough progesterone to do its job because estrogen is too high.
Source: NIH
