This morning: Still no temperature shift. I spent a few hours this morning (between rain showers) out on my balcony trying to soak in as much sun as possible.
I think that I've been producing too much melatonin to ovulate. Perhaps going from our normally-light bedroom to the complete darkness of the eyemask was too drastic of a transition? So, of course, I had to do a bit of research:
The effect of melatonin on reproductive systems can be summarized by saying that it is anti-gonadotropic. In other words, melatonin inhibits the secretion of the gonadotropic hormones luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone from the anterior pituitary. Much of this inhibitory effect seems due to inhibition of gonadotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus, which is necessary for secretion of the anterior pituitary hormones. (link)That same article states:
In various species including humans, administration of melatonin has been shown to decrease motor activity, induce fatigue and lower body temperature, particularly at high doses.In my research, I found a couple of other articles as well that also explained that melatonin is probably the cause of my drastic decrease in BBT this cycle (my average coverline is 97.7 - this cycle it is 97.2) (link, link)
So... what I'm going to do about this? Besides trying to get as much daytime sun as possible, I have no idea.
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