How femSense is revolutionizing the temperature method

The temperature method – long story short!

There is a direct connection between body temperature, ovulation and getting pregnant. This was first established in 1935 by the German clergyman Wilhelm Hillebrand, who based his temperature method of contraception on the findings of the Austrian gynaecologist Hermann Knaus and the Japanese gynaecologist Kyusaku Ogino. In the 1920s Knaus and Ogino independently discovered a regularity in female cycles and their so-called calendar method or rhythm method of contraception was born; the first and only contraceptive method recognized by the Catholic Church for several decades.

The temperature method,, like the rhythm method, is based on the fact that a woman can only get pregnant around ovulation, but the temperature method also takes the rise in body temperature at ovulation into consideration.

Fertility curve that shows the temperature rise around the time o ovulation

The importance of this rise in body temperature: the conventional basal body temperature method is used to distinguish between fertile and non-fertile days by measuring the body temperature daily, first thing in the morning. This value is called the “basal” temperature because the body reaches its lowest temperature shortly before waking. This “baseline” is a constant which is not influenced by external factors and is therefore particularly significant when it comes to detecting the rise in temperature, of only 0.2-0.5°C, at ovulation.

“When the body temperature rises it means that the ovulation process has started…”

Michael Schenk, Fertility Expert

The disadvantages of conventional basal body temperature methods.

Measuring your temperature before you wake up is of course virtually impossible and in order to get a reliable reading after waking up you should always measure at the same time and same place – in actual fact you should really go to sleep at the same time every night, not drink any alcohol, have unbroken sleep and basically, as Dr. Schenk puts it, live “like a nun”.

“The old school basal body temperature method - ideally measuring vaginally or under the tongue, at a particular time every day - means you have to live like a nun.”

Michael Schenk

Apart from being really difficult to implement, measuring with a normal thermometer is very inaccurate; firstly, each measurement takes place at a slightly different place and secondly, very few thermometers are accurate or reliable enough.

How femSense is revolutionising the temperature method

“The biggest problem with the old school temperature method is the fact that you only measure your temperature once a day. That’s different with femSense.”

Michael Schenk

Temperaturecurve with real femSense data, containing hundreds of data points.

  1. femSense measures the body temperature continuously over several days and stores up to 1000 measurements per day. This allows “ peculiarities “ to be identified and removed and ovulation to be pinpointed with an accuracy of over 93%.

“Continuous measurement solves all the shortcomings of the old basal body temperature method.”

Michael Schenk

  1. femSense always measures at the same place and therefore prevents variations.
  2. femSense measures with a patented temperature sensor that is calibrated with gauged instruments and is accurate to within 0.1 degrees Celsius.
  3. And last but not least, you are spared the complicated recording and evaluation of temperature values where it is so easy to make mistakes. The algorithm does all the hard work for you in the background and evaluates the data separately for each individual user. The femSense app filters out the really important information for the user: When she is most fertile - and if and when she ovulated.

Dr. Michael Schenk

Dr. Michael Schenk is a Medical Specialist in Gynaecology and Obstetrics and an expert in Clinical Embryology. Director of the Kinderwunsch Institute (Graz) and femSense mentor.