Why I Love Natural Birth Control Even More After 4 Years: Carina’s Story

Disclaimer: This is one Natural Cycles user’s experience. Everyone's experience is different and we encourage you to talk to your healthcare provider when considering switching birth control.

I’ve previously shared what I loved about my experience using Natural Cycles on this blog and on my own blog, and now four years later, I have even more to say!

Over the past four years, Natural Cycles has been a constant in my life through many travels, and a few moves and relationships, among other changes. I’ve always been diligent about recording my temperature every morning, and recently hit a milestone of a 1500-day measuring streak! 

Natural Cycles has been an effective form of birth control for me, and I’m happy to report that I’m still having a great experience. In this article, I’ll touch on the important things I’ve learned about myself and my body from using Natural Cycles over the last four years, the new features that they have introduced, plus Natural Cycles has now integrated with Oura - which I’m most excited about!

What I’ve learned about myself from using Natural Cycles for the last 4 years

Using Natural Cycles has always been helpful for me to understand and recognize trends related to my cycle because the interface and graphs are easy to read and comprehend. Now that I have many months and many years of data to refer to, I’ve been able to see the ways in which my cycle changed (or didn’t change) during major, stressful situations. 

During the past four years, my cycle remained very regular while I experienced a handful of moves, a difficult breakup, and like all of us, lived through a pandemic and related lockdowns. 

On the other hand, I was also able to notice exactly which life events did have an affect on my cycle: taking the COVID vaccines resulted in my cycles temporarily being longer than usual - (Natural Cycles even did their own research on the COVID vaccines effect on menstrual cycles!), and when I caught COVID on two separate occasions, I experienced anovulation for the first time ever, and longer periods immediately after, both times.

As a frequent traveler who’s bounced across time zones and endured dozens of long-haul flights over the past few years, I’m continually impressed with the Natural Cycles algorithm’s ability to accurately predict my periods and fertility status despite the affect my lifestyle may have on my sleeping habits and my ability to accurately measure my own temperature. 

Natural Cycles best new features

Since I started using Natural Cycles, they’ve continued to introduce new features that make the experience even better. A few of my favorites include:

Partner View- encourages a shared excitement and responsibility around intimacy and pregnancy prevention

Mood Tracking- allows me to recognize physical and emotion patterns as they relate to your cycle

Dark Mode - makes the entire Natural Cycles experience easier on the eyes, especially when I’m opening the app first thing in the morning

My Review of using Natural Cycles with the Oura Ring

Natural Cycles’ integration with Oura is undoubtedly the newest feature that I’m most excited about. I was always curious about trying out the Oura Ring as a fitness and sleep tracker, and was drawn to it because it was the only wearable that I could actually see myself using (its chic, sleek, and discreet design works well with my personal style!). As soon as Natural Cycles announced the integration, I ordered one immediately and have since been testing it out for myself the last month. 

What I love most about using Natural Cycles with the Oura Ring (apart from not having to take my own temperature with a thermometer after doing so religiously for over 1500 days straight) is that I can be more mindful about not sleeping with my phone immediately near me, or having to pick it up first thing in the morning. 

I’ve built better sleeping habits by placing my phone on the other side of the room before going to bed, and not checking it until after I’ve woken up and begun my morning routine. I can ease into my day without my phone, and then at any point that day open up my Natural Cycles app and check my fertility status as my temperature is automatically updated with Oura’s data.

So far, my experience with Natural Cycle’s integration with Oura has been seamless, easy to use, and completely reliable, and I’m looking forward to continuing and building better habits when it comes to my health, sleep, and overall wellness. 

Overall, Natural Cycles has become an important, helpful, and integral part of my life, and I am grateful for everything it’s taught me about myself. Here’s to the next four years! 

Huge thanks to Carina for sharing her experience of using Natural Cycles! Head over to She is Not Lost to read more of Carina's content - or you can use her personal Natural Cycles referral link to get started.