For those who are trying to kick-start or balance their cycles, wanting to balance hormones, correct painful cycles, etc. here is a no-cost way to help things along.
Honoring Our Cycles, page 50 (Katie Singer, 2006, ISBN: 0-9670897-6-X)
To be healthy, we need sunlight during the day and darkness at night. Some women who do not ovulate regularly or who have difficulty getting pregnant and keeping pregnant have found that night lighting affects their cycles.
Usually, a woman needs to sleep in complete darkness -- except around the days she ovulates. Sleeping in complete darkness means that 15 minutes after you turn offyour bedroom light, you can not see your hand in front of your face. Getting your room totally dark takes time and attention. You might cover your window one night and the crack under the door the next. While it may take several months, healthier cycles often result.
. . . If you need light in the middle of the night (in the bathroom or while nursing), use dim light. You can buy a red bulb (like those used in a photographer's darkroom) from a camera store. . . .
To support healthy cycles, sleep in complete darkness. Then:
- After you have two days of wetness, [Edit note: refers to v*ginal sensation when checked after urination] on the night of the second day, sleep with a light on in your foom for three nights. Or, keep a light on in a nearby room and keep its door open. After three nights with light, go back to sleeping in darkness for the rest of your cycle.
- If you are not ovulating and have not bled for a month or longer, first sleep in completee darkness for 12 days. Then sleep with a light on for the next three nights. Then go back to sleeping in darkness for two weeks. Continue with this pattern to encourage healthy, ovulatory cycles.
- Once you are pregnant, sleeping in complete darkness can help you keep a healthy pregnancy. After your baby is born, sleep in complete darkness until you are ready to ovulate again.
Here are a couple of additional web sites with articles on fertility/ovulation and the affect of light at night:
http://fertility.amuchbetterway.com/lunar-fertility-boost-your-fertility/
http://www.shanspirations.org/?p=87
page 51
EMMA 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 cramps were very intense on days that I bles. When I was 23, I learned I had endometriosis. For 12 years, I kept taking the Pill. Then I stopped taking it and tried sleeping in darkness except around the days I ovulate. I have been amazed! For five months, I have ovulated within two days of sleeping with light. I feel healthier than I have in years.
Ok, I know that it has been a long time since this thread has been active, but hopefully someone will find this.
I have a question. How do you know when you are ovulating? My mom never really talked to me about that stuff, she just explained to me what was going to happen, and how to use pads, so I really want to learn about this to pass it on to my own daughters, Lord willing, one day.
I have noticed that about two weeks before I am supposed to start, (whether or not I actually do) , I have pains in my lower abdomen, that feels like appendicitis, but is not. Does this have anything to do with it? I also used to think that the... umm... discharge
meant that something was wrong, but from what I am learning, it is normal, and it means something. I'm just not entirely sure what.
Also, does anyone know how the darkness and light affect your cycles? Would I need to get out in the sun more often during the day, in addition to keeping my room dark at night? And if around ovulation, it does not need to be completely dark, how do you make it lighter without being too light?
I'm sorry if this is TMI! I just have been wanting to figure all of this stuff out, and this seems as good a place as any to ask the questions, no one else seems to know the answers to!
