Your blood pressure – which is a measure of how hard your heart has to work to deliver blood across your body – is an important measure of your general health. Blood pressure measures the force of your blood vessels on the walls of veins, and is given in a two-number measurement (e.g. normal blood pressure is under 120/80).
Use the Ovia blood pressure tracker to help predict ovulation
When blood pressure is too low or too high, it can lead to some major problems – most notably, high blood pressure that goes untreated can damage your circulatory system and lead to heart attack, stroke, and other serious complications. High or low blood pressure does not necessarily directly influence fertility, but it can definitely signal an underlying condition that could be hampering your chances of conceiving.
Blood pressure and fertility
Individuals with high blood pressure may be at a greater risk for weight problems and stress, both of which could affect cycle regularity and disrupt ovulation. And once pregnant, moms with high blood pressure before conception are also more likely to develop preeclampsia, a complication dangerous for both mom and baby.
Those with low blood pressure may be more prone to dizziness or fainting.
Tracking blood pressure with Ovia Fertility
Keeping your blood pressure within a normal range, or alerting your healthcare provider if it is not, is one of the best ways to monitor your general health, especially if you’re TTC.
Ovia asks you to enter your blood pressure data, either manually or through your Withings blood pressure monitor, for two reasons. Firstly, tracking your blood pressure is an excellent way to gauge your general health and fertility health, as both high and low blood pressure could cause serious health problems, negatively affect your fertility, and be dangerous once you get pregnant. And, again, if you find that your blood pressure is outside of the normal range, make sure you talk to your healthcare provider.
Secondly, tracking your blood pressure may help establish a pattern between it and your fertility. Perhaps your blood pressure increases a bit four days after you ovulate? You’ll never know unless you track it. Lots of small changes in your body may correlate with your fertile window and ovulation, so you just have to enter the data to notice those patterns.
Using the Ovia tracker to watch your blood pressure can be super helpful in monitoring your general and fertility health, and it may help you improve the accuracy of your cycle and fertile window predictions!
Sources
- Heidi Godman. “Checking blood pressure at home pays off.” Harvard. Harvard University, Jul 2013. Web. Accessed 7/6/17. Available at http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/checking-blood-pressure-at-home-pays-off-201307036436.
- “Understanding and Tracking Your Blood Pressure.” Heart. American Heart Association, 2017. Web. Accessed 7/6/17. Available at http://heartinsight.heart.org/Summer-2017/Understanding-and-Tracking-Your-Blood-Pressure/.
- “Monitoring Your Blood Pressure at Home.” Heart. American Heart Association, Mar 2017. Web. Accessed 7/6/17. Available at http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/KnowYourNumbers/Monitoring-Your-Blood-Pressure-at-Home_UCM_301874_Article.jsp#.WV5G-tPyuCQ.
