Kyri Unfiltered

New year, new you… but what about new year, healthier periods? In 2025, let’s give our menstrual health the VIP treatment it deserves. The best part? Many of the most cycle-loving habits are free — no fancy gadgets required. Think: embracing your inner grandma and heading to bed earlier, actually eating breakfast (yes, intermittent fasters, I see you clutching your pearls), saying “no” more often to protect your nervous system, soaking up some sunshine for that vitamin D glow, and moving your body to keep everything — including your digestion — flowing. Small daily shifts can have your hormones, cycles, and fertility singing your praises all year long.

Coming off the oral contraceptive pill can feel overwhelming—especially if you initially went on it to manage acne or painful periods. Whether you're preparing for pregnancy or simply want to reconnect with your natural cycle, it's important to understand that the pill affects more than just your reproductive system. It also impacts gut health, liver function, and nutrient levels.

This blog explores practical steps you can take to prepare your body before stopping the pill—ideally giving yourself 1–3 months to replenish nutrient stores, support digestion, and reduce toxin exposure. From eating nutrient-dense foods to incorporating gentle herbs and managing your nervous system, you’ll learn how to ease the transition and set realistic expectations for what post-pill life might look like.

Whether you’re eager to ovulate again, curious about cervical mucus changes, or navigating skin issues, this guide will help you feel more confident and supported in your next chapter.

When it comes to optimizing your fertility and the health of your future baby, one key pillar of wellness that cannot be overlooked is nutrition. What you eat directly impacts your hormones, ovulation, implantation, pregnancy sustainability, and ultimately, your baby’s development.

From building a receptive uterine lining to supporting the placenta, every stage of the reproductive process depends on an abundance of vital nutrients. While all nutrients work in synergy, some—like folate, choline, B12, vitamin D, magnesium, and protein—play especially critical roles in fertility and pregnancy.

Supporting your body with nutrient-dense whole foods before and during pregnancy sets the stage for a healthier, more supported conception journey. Because when the mother is nourished, so is the baby.

While temperature charting can be a powerful tool in understanding your menstrual cycles and detecting ovulation, it’s not always as clear-cut as it seems. Basal body temperature (BBT) can be influenced by a range of external factors—from illness and stress to travel and disrupted sleep—making it possible to see misleading spikes that don’t actually confirm ovulation.

Even hormonally, things aren’t always straightforward. For example, progesterone—which raises body temperature—can begin to rise even before ovulation occurs, and certain conditions like a luteinised unruptured follicle or corpus luteum cyst can keep temperatures elevated long after ovulation (or even without ovulation at all).

Understanding the nuances behind BBT charting not only helps you interpret your data more accurately, but also empowers you to detect when something’s off—so you can take action, ask the right questions, and seek support when needed.

When it comes to postpartum depression (PPD) and sleep, it's often a case of "chicken or the egg"—does poor sleep worsen PPD, or does PPD lead to disrupted sleep? The truth is, the postpartum period is a time of massive upheaval: sleep, nutrition, exercise, and overall lifestyle are all affected. Many women feel pressured to return to training quickly to “lose the baby weight,” unknowingly adding stress to an already taxed system.

Stress comes in many forms—overtraining, calorie restriction, and breastfeeding can all compound the body's stress load, impacting both sleep quality and mood. One crucial nutrient that plays a key role here is vitamin B6. Vital for serotonin and melatonin production, B6 needs nearly double during lactation. Low levels—especially due to inflammation—can significantly worsen both mood and sleep.

Supporting your postpartum recovery starts with reducing stressors and ensuring your body is well-nourished. Prioritizing bioavailable sources of B6, like animal proteins, liver, dairy, and seafood, is one step towards better sleep and a more stable mood.

Short answer: yes.
Long answer: it’s complicated.

While mainstream medicine may downplay the impact of stress on fertility, science and biology tell a different story—especially when it comes to chronic, ongoing stress. This kind of stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, diverting vital energy and resources away from reproduction and toward survival.

Chronic stress can disrupt hormone production, delay ovulation, impair implantation, affect egg and sperm quality, and even alter the immune system and gut microbiome—all of which can negatively influence fertility outcomes.

One powerful tool to better understand how stress may be affecting your body is HRV (heart rate variability) tracking. Lower HRV has been linked to lower pregnancy success rates in IVF, highlighting the importance of nervous system health on the fertility journey.

At Kyri Cycles, we’re excited to include HRV tracking in the BBRing, giving women access to more meaningful data and insights to support their fertility and overall wellbeing.