Using the Standards Days Methods of Birth Control

The Standards Days Methods refers to a fairly new natural family planning method for those looking for contraception without the possible side effects that many of the other methods have. Going back to more natural ways of living is becoming increasingly popular these days and that goes for contraception too.

How Does it Work Exactly?

Standards Days Methods is a natural method of contraception that works by helping you to figure out which days you are most fertile so that you can avoid sex. Yes, it’s a new take on an old method really because while women looking to get pregnant use a similar system to know which days they should have sex, a woman wanting to avoid pregnancy can benefit from the same idea.

A study of the periods of over seven thousand women was used to help with the creation of the Standards Days Methods. Things like the lifespan of a woman’s eggs and a man’s sperm were examined as well as ovulation. All of this information led to the finding that women are most fertile during day 8 to 19 of their cycle and should avoid unprotected sex during that time to prevent pregnancy. And if you’re not quite sure what that means, it’s simple; the first day of your period is day 1 of your cycle and you count from there. Women’s cycles last between 26 and 32 days, so you count on until the end of yours—avoiding unprotected sex days 8 to 19 of course!

To Make It Easier

There is a product called CycleBeads which was created to help a woman keep track of the days of her cycle. This string of beads uses three colors to indicate the days of your cycle, the days you are unlikely to get pregnant and the days that you are most at risk of pregnancy. A little rubber ring can be moved from bead to bead so you always know where in your cycle you are. This certainly can be helpful as far as Standards Days Methods of birth control goes or simply just wanting to keep better track of your cycle for other reasons.

Just Remember

While the Standards Days Methods does seem to work for many women it is not guaranteed to prevent pregnancy. To be more specific, it has an 88 percent success rate in preventing pregnancy. If you want a 100 percent guarantee that you won’t get pregnant the only sure fire way to do that is to abstain from sex entirely. You also need to remember that it doesn’t protect you from STDs.