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I saw this as a way to help people get pregnant, since it'd work in either direction. In that case, how can you not approve of it? It's simply a natural biologi

by EADGBE 8y ago

I saw this as a way to help people get pregnant, since it'd work in either direction. In that case, how can you not approve of it? It's simply a natural biological aide.

jhanschoo 8y ago
IIRC to get pregnant most efficiently one should do it as often as possible rather than wait for the fertility peak.
- wild_preference 8y ago
  Yes, but many people have a dead bedroom yet still want children. These apps are popular among certain religous groups as well where sex is viewed as some sort of necessary evil solely for procreation. Something to be minimized.
  - nsxwolf 8y ago
    I'm not sure what religious groups there are that actually have that view of sex. I usually hear that as an incorrect interpretation of Catholic views on human sexuality. The usefulness of NFP depends on your perspective. If you require a 100% childless life, you're going to see it as useless. For faithful Catholics, using NFP with random failures can mean 3-5 kids instead of 8-12 kids. That's a huge difference.
    - wild_preference 8y ago
      I’m from the south and have people (christian, non-denominational) in my own family with that view. I’m not talking about some misinterpretation of Catholic views, but a view that actual people hold. No need for the indirection of trying to pin this on a label. That’s another convesation. But you are underestimating the level of sexual repression in the States.
      - mrguyorama 8y ago
        >underestimating the level of sexual repression in the States. Let alone the rest of the religious world, and even non-religious people can be puritanical about sex
- web007 8y ago
  The recommendation I remember is once every 2 or 3 days, since sperm production has its own refractory period. Every day is slightly less effective than waiting a little bit.
brandmeyer 8y ago
The article covers this in detail, but I can share our experiences in the opposite direction: We used charting to maximize our chances of getting pregnant. Accurate fertility tracking requires multiple signals. When we were trying to get pregnant, my wife used body temperature, ferning, timing of her period, and the viscosity of her discharge all together. Combining the signals gives a remarkably clear picture, but temperature alone has a lot of noise. Our charting tool also had a slot for logging sex, too. Most of the userbase we had contact with were actively trying to get pregnant and many had difficulty doing so. Being able to track past history allows you to phase-shift sexy time against the cycle to try and get the timing just right. I should mention that for couples who are trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully, the entire process can be extremely stressful. So while trying to shoot a perfect timing bullseye doesn't make a whole lot of sense physiologically, desperate people will try to tease out any signal they can for explaining why they can't get pregnant. FTA: > but 54 percent of those women dropped out within the first year, That's not at all surprising. Rhythm method charting takes a fair amount of work and regularity that makes it something of a pain. There's also better tools for it than this app. Their target userbase seems to be couples that are both dedicated anti-contraceptionists and ~~lazy~~ less than fully vigilant. I suspect the reality is that many users were trying it out just to learn about their own bodies, but were otherwise relying on other contraceptive methods. Once the curiosity wore off, they stopped using it.

by EADGBE 8y ago

I saw this as a way to help people get pregnant, since it'd work in either direction. In that case, how can you not approve of it? It's simply a natural biological aide.

jhanschoo 8y ago

IIRC to get pregnant most efficiently one should do it as often as possible rather than wait for the fertility peak.

wild_preference 8y ago
Yes, but many people have a dead bedroom yet still want children. These apps are popular among certain religous groups as well where sex is viewed as some sort of necessary evil solely for procreation. Something to be minimized.
- nsxwolf 8y ago
  I'm not sure what religious groups there are that actually have that view of sex. I usually hear that as an incorrect interpretation of Catholic views on human sexuality. The usefulness of NFP depends on your perspective. If you require a 100% childless life, you're going to see it as useless. For faithful Catholics, using NFP with random failures can mean 3-5 kids instead of 8-12 kids. That's a huge difference.
  - wild_preference 8y ago
    I’m from the south and have people (christian, non-denominational) in my own family with that view. I’m not talking about some misinterpretation of Catholic views, but a view that actual people hold. No need for the indirection of trying to pin this on a label. That’s another convesation. But you are underestimating the level of sexual repression in the States.
    - mrguyorama 8y ago
      >underestimating the level of sexual repression in the States. Let alone the rest of the religious world, and even non-religious people can be puritanical about sex
web007 8y ago
The recommendation I remember is once every 2 or 3 days, since sperm production has its own refractory period. Every day is slightly less effective than waiting a little bit.

brandmeyer 8y ago

The article covers this in detail, but I can share our experiences in the opposite direction: We used charting to maximize our chances of getting pregnant. Accurate fertility tracking requires multiple signals. When we were trying to get pregnant, my wife used body temperature, ferning, timing of her period, and the viscosity of her discharge all together. Combining the signals gives a remarkably clear picture, but temperature alone has a lot of noise. Our charting tool also had a slot for logging sex, too. Most of the userbase we had contact with were actively trying to get pregnant and many had difficulty doing so. Being able to track past history allows you to phase-shift sexy time against the cycle to try and get the timing just right. I should mention that for couples who are trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully, the entire process can be extremely stressful. So while trying to shoot a perfect timing bullseye doesn't make a whole lot of sense physiologically, desperate people will try to tease out any signal they can for explaining why they can't get pregnant. FTA: > but 54 percent of those women dropped out within the first year, That's not at all surprising. Rhythm method charting takes a fair amount of work and regularity that makes it something of a pain. There's also better tools for it than this app. Their target userbase seems to be couples that are both dedicated anti-contraceptionists and ~~lazy~~ less than fully vigilant. I suspect the reality is that many users were trying it out just to learn about their own bodies, but were otherwise relying on other contraceptive methods. Once the curiosity wore off, they stopped using it.