Women Adopt the Rhythm Method Via Smartphones
The rhythm method ain’t what it used to be. Technology is giving it a boost.
Birth control has gotten way better over the years but for some women the side effects can still be overwhelming. From mood swings to weight gain and unexplained tears–not being able to predict how you’re going to feel isn’t worth it for many women. Not to mention that the idea of putting chemicals into your body when you’re not even sure what they are day-in and day-out is another downside.
But at the same time, relationships are taking much longer to transition into marriage than in years past. Women are waiting longer to have kids, they’re having fewer kids, and in some cases, no kids. And for most of us chastity isn’t an option. Some sort of birth control or family planning is a must.
It’s these two phenomenons that have led women to look for other means and many women have looked back to an old practice. The rhythm method is making a comeback with the help of simplifying technology, according to The Atlantic. Take the Daysy for example, it’s a teardrop shaped thermometer that lights up green if you’re safe to have sex unprotected and yellow or red if you should use backup. It measures basal body temperature, which is a few degrees higher after a woman has ovulated. It’s personalized to your body temperature, so the company claims it’s 99.3 percent accurate. The same as birth control.
And then there are CycleBeads and the CycleBeads app which are based on the Standard Days method of birth control which counts days so women avoid intercourse on 8-19 days of their cycle. It highlights fertile and non-fertile days based on when your period started.
According to The Atlantic:
Leslie Heyer, president of Cycle Technologies, which makes CycleBeads, told me that its success rate is about 95 percent for “perfect use” and 88 percent for “typical use,” which would mean it beats condoms and falls just short of the Pill. And though women using CycleBeads have only 18 infertile days each month (14 if you deduct menstruation days), Heyer says women using the method have intercourse just as often as those on the Pill.
It’s all the family planning but without the pen and paper of yesteryear not to mention the larger likelihood of human error.
“I think there’s a sense they’re less effective,” Heyer said. “Because historically, they were less effective. You were relying on people doing their own calculations. With the Standard Days method, the tools do matter.”
But still, many women are scared of these methods because getting pregnant isn’t a chance they want to take. But let’s just be glad that we have these choices at hand. Too many choices is far better than too few. What do you think? Would you base your family planning on a technology driven rhythm method?
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Image: David Schiersner
