Fertility Fundamentals
For a woman hoping to enhance or increase her fertility, something as simple as timing when she has intercourse can make a considerable difference. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that most women can conceive only a few days per month, so aiming for a certain day or days can most certainly help assist positive outcomes.
The most important way to enhance fertility is to identify which days are the most fertile, and then to make certain to have intercourse on these days. For most women, their most fertile time is the 24–hour period before ovulation; when their ovary releases an egg. For our purposes, let’s say the day we start our period is Day 1, which means most women ovulate around Day 14. Once the egg is released it is able to become fertilized for about 24 hours, so this is considered the most fertile time. It’s important to remember, however, that not all women ovulate on Day 14. Some ovulate sooner and some later. Many women ovulate irregularly, and others not only don’t ovulate at all, but don’t realize it. It’s possible for a woman to have a period and not ovulate.
Since sperm can live inside a woman for several days, it’s effective to have intercourse a day or two prior to ovulation as well as the actual day of ovulation. Some research has actually shown that it is better to have intercourse the day before than the actual day of. This is why many couples trying to conceive are advised to have intercourse every other day around the time of ovulation.
There are several products on the market that can help women identify their most fertile days. The most widely used methods are noninvasive, relatively easy to use, and fairly simple to do. They do, however, vary in cost, convenience, and reliability. These products are useful for couples who are trying to conceive, or for couples who want to plan a pregnancy so its timing coincides with a particular time of year. Some of the most common methods used are:
- Basal body temperature thermometer is a simple, inexpensive way
of determining whether or not you ovulate but it tends to tell you
after the fact. Charting for a month will tell you if you ovulated
that month which is useful information to have but it is not a good
predictor. A better way to predict ovulation is to assess the quality
of your vaginal mucus. Ovulatory mucus tends to look and feel like
egg white–clear and stretchable.
- Ovulation kits measure the amount of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the urine,
and are able to predict that ovulation will occur within 24–36 hours. They
are inexpensive and very reliable.
- Fertility monitors remove much of the guesswork about a woman’s most fertile days.
These are used for detecting a rise in estrogen and luteinizing hormone (the two
hormones that control fertility) in a woman’s urine, and in turn, indicate days
of low fertility, high fertility and peak fertility. Also, there are other types
of monitors that measure electrolyte changes in saliva which correspond to days
of ovulation and peak fertility. Using this monitor gives a woman to up to
seven days advance notice of her ovulation. A vaginal sensor can also be
used to confirm ovulation on the day it occurs.
Small changes in how someone makes love can also help sperm reach the uterus more easily:
- Avoiding lubricants can increase fertility since even the presence
of hand lotion or saliva in or near the vagina can slow down or kill sperm
- Making sure not to douche
Reducing your stress level also helps to tip the scales in favor of greater fertility, so finding ways to relax, increasing the amount of fun in your life and enjoying the process of “trying” often work wonders.
