Other clinical researchers have also found that sleeping in the absence of light (introducing it for a few days each cycle, or sleeping only in the absence of light) can help women in a variety of situations to strengthen their cycles.6,7

* Women with anovulatory cycles have become ovulatory.
* Women with unclear mucus readings develop discernible, healthy mucus build-up.
* Cycles that had been very short (26 days or less) or very long (35 days or more) become 27-31 days long.
* FSH levels become healthy.
* Spotting at various times during the cycle is significantly reduced.
* Progesterone levels are strengthened.
* Women with a history of miscarriage are able to sustain pregnancy.
* Premenopausal women develop a more discernible mucus pattern; and the intensity of their premenopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, sleeplessness, and mood changes are reduced.

So what does sleeping in total darkness mean? Fifteen minutes after turning out the lights, you can't see objects in the room, including your own hands. Bedroom windows are covered with room-darkening blinds or curtains backed by light-blocking fabric. Cracks of light from under doors can be covered with a towel. Cracks around the edges of windows can be covered with aluminum foil. More specific directions for sleeping in the absence of light to strengthen menstrual cycles are available in my book.

A practitioner of Fertility Awareness recently reported to me, "I went on the Pill when I was 17 to regulate my cycles because they were so long and far apart. By the time I was 18 (and still on the Pill), my menstrual cramps had become incredibly intense. When I was 23, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. After nearly twelve years on and off the Pill, I stopped taking it and tried Lunaception." She was amazed that for five consecutive months, she ovulated within one or two days of the last day of sleeping with light. She felt healthier than she had in years.

I was touched, as I often am, by this woman's motivation to strengthen her health once she identified a problem in her menstrual cycle—and learned a technique that could help her without side effects.

Indeed, Fertility Awareness proves to be a powerful tool for connecting people to the wide web of resources that are necessary for sound reproductive and overall health.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Singer, Katie, The Garden of Fertility: A Guide to Charting Your Fertility Signals to Prevent or Achieve Pregnancy—Naturally—and to Gauge Your Reproductive Health, Avery/Penguin, 2004. Includes chapters on Fertility Awareness and breastfeeding, food and reproductive health, night-lighting, healing childbearing losses, and women conducting research based on their fertility charts. www.gardenoffertility.com includes charts that can be downloaded free of charge.

Weschler, Toni, Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Fertility Awareness, 2nd Edition. HarperPerennial, 2001. www.tcoyf.com includes message boards especially for women who want to conceive.

TO FIND A FERTILITY AWARENESS TEACHER IN YOUR AREA

The Couple To Couple League. POB 111184, Cincinnati, OH 45211; (800) 745-8252. Medically sound, with a Catholic orientation. Their materials are available in Spanish. www.ccli.org.

The Fertility Awareness Network. PO Box 1190, New York, NY 10009; (212) 475-4490. www.FertAware.com.

Katie Singer is a writer and speaker. She is the author of The Garden of Fertility (Avery/Penguin) and a contributor to Mothering and Our Bodies, Ourselves 2005, she has also written a novel, The Wholeness of a Broken Heart (Riverhead/Penguin), which was a selection of Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Program. She'll present a workshop on Fertility Awareness at the Weston A. Price conference on October 3. Visit her websites, www.katiesinger.com and www.GardenOfFertility.com.

REFERENCES

1. Langer, Stephen, MD, The Riddle of Illness, Keats, 2000.
2. Marieb, Elaine N., Human Anatomy and Physiology, 4th Edition, Addison Wesley Longman, 1998.
3. Ayre, E. A. and S.F. Pang, "Iodomelatonin binding sites in the testis and ovary: Putative melatonin receptors in the gonads," Biological Signals 3: 71-84, 1994. Abstract: Through the synthesis and secretion of the hormone melatonin, the pineal has been assigned the role of synchronizing a reproductive response to appropriate environmental conditions. Theoretical melatonin target sites may occur at several levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal hierarchy, including a direct action on the gonads.
4. Dewan, E.M. PhD, Miriam Menkin, MA, and John Rock, MD, "On the Possibility of a Perfect Rhythm of Birth Control by Periodic Light Stimulation," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 99 (1967): 1016-19.
5. Lacey, Louise, Lunaception: A Feminine Odyssey into Fertility and Contraception, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975.
6. Kippley, John F, "By the Light of the Silvery Moon: Report #R2," Couple to Couple League, 1976.
7. DeFelice, Joy, R.N., B.S.N., P.H.N, The Effects of Light on the Menstrual Cycle: Also Infertility, 2000.

About the Author:
Katie Singer is the author of The Garden of Fertility: A Guide to Charting Your Fertility Signals to Prevent or Achieve Pregnancy—Naturally—and to Gauge Your Reproductive Health. www.GardenOfFertility.com

Spacing Children

One of the most interesting traditional practices reported by Dr. Weston Price was the deliberate spacing of children in primitive societies. Throughout Africa and the South Seas, it was considered shameful to have a child more than once every three years.

Modern science validates this practice. We now know that the ideal interval for preventing physical birth defects is three years; this is also the optimal spacing for the emotional health of children. And allowing at least three years between pregnancies permits the mother to recover her nutritional stores between children and to provide sufficient attention to each child—and to her marriage!

Fertility Awareness can help create a healthy well-spaced family. It encourages communication and cooperation between husband and wife, and illuminates the fact that the family's health depends on the cyclic nature that characterizes human reproduction.
Instituting the Right Diet

When I introduce the nutritional discoveries made by Weston Price, I explain that the traditional peoples he studied typically allowed a special feeding period of six months before marriage in order to ensure the couple's reproductive health and that of their children. The foods they consumed during this time were packed with vitamins A, D, and E, iodine and zinc—nutrients that are essential for reproductive health. I then list the foods that are especially high in these nutrients, such as eggs, butter, seafood and organ meats.

I also explain how some common foods can be hazardous to reproductive health: soy, caffeine, trans fats, white flour, sugar, commercial oils, and foods grown with pesticides.

Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions and Lori Lipinski's columns, "Making the Transition," (www.westonaprice.org/transition) have been invaluable resources for people who want to begin eating a traditional diet.
Night-Lighting for the Nursing Mother

Sleeping without light can support lactional amennorhea — infertily while nursing. (Frequent nursing, including at night, is another.) During pregnancy and while breast feeding (until menses resume) it is best to sleep in the absence of light. If you need light in the middle of the night to nurse or use the bathroom, use as dim a light as possible. A red bulb (like those used in a photographer's darkroom) purchased from a camera store, can be helpful. Once your cervical fluid indicates that you are ready to ovulate again, you may want to introduce light on some evenings. This specific technique and others for optimizing the nursing are described in Chapter 4 of The Garden of Fertilty.
Cyclebeads

The Standard Days Method (SDM) was developed in 1999 at the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University. SDM is inspired by surveys that show that well over 60 million women worldwide report using periodic abstinence to avoid pregnancy—though they don't usually know when they are fertile. By using CycleBeads, a color-coded string of beads, women whose cycles are usually 26-32 days long are able to identify the days when they can conceive, and the days when conception would be very unlikely. SDM takes about 20 minutes to learn, and is more than 95 percent effective when used correctly. It's currently offered by state health departments, Planned Parenthood clinics, church-based groups and private providers in the US and internationally. While SDM provides no information about how the body works, nor indicators of gynecological health, I think this method is a good option for couples who don't have the time to learn Fertility Awareness, for women who aren't inclined to be intimate with their bodily processes, and for those who don't have literacy.

For further information, contact:

Institute for Reproductive Health of Georgetown University
4301 Connecticut Av. NW, #310
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 687-1392

or visit www.irh.org; www.cyclebeads.com.

Source: http://www.westonaprice.org/women/fertility.html