So you’ve talked with your partner and the two of you have decided to start trying to build your family this year. This is an exciting and joyful time for most couples, and by planning ahead, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of successfully achieving a pregnancy. So what can you do to boost your fertility this year? Here, the fertility experts of The Center for Reproductive Medicine in Mobile, Alabama share five tips that can help improve your overall well-being and boost your fertility to bring you one step closer to achieving your dreams of family.
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Vitamins and Supplements
The American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that women trying to conceive begin taking folic acid once they begin actively trying to conceive a pregnancy. This can help decrease the chances of a neural tube defect in your baby. Other vitamins like Zinc, Vitamin B6 can be crucial to your reproductive health, helping you achieve a pregnancy. CoQ10, another supplement, has also shown some indication that it can help improve egg quality in women and sperm count in men.
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Time Your Intercourse Correctly
Many couples who struggle to achieve a pregnancy timing intercourse correctly. For women, the most fertile days of your cycle are the three days leading up to and the day of ovulation. Every woman’s cycle is different, so to help you pinpoint these days, try tracking your cycle. Another way to find out your days of peak fertility? Ovulation predictor kits.
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Optimize Your Lifestyle for Conception
Diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits can all impact your ability to conceive. Try to cut back on processed foods, swap out low-fat dairy for full-fat dairy, limit caffeine intake, and cut out any other factors that can impair conception, like smoking and alcohol.
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Keep Your Stress in Check
While infertility is not caused by stress, trying to conceive without success month after month can definitely cause stress. Meditation, yoga, exercise, and a gratitude practice are some ways to help relieve stress. Most of all, find something that works for you and helps keep your stress levels low throughout the process.
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Achieve & Maintain a Healthy Weight
A woman’s fertility can be negatively impacted by being either overweight or underweight. For women who are outside of a healthy weight range in either direction, periods can become irregular or cease altogether, making it more difficult to determine when they’re ovulating. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight increases the likelihood that you’ll have a predictable menstrual cycle and ovulate regularly.
While these tips can help you improve your chances of successfully achieving a pregnancy, it is also important to learn how to recognize when you may need to seek fertility help. For couples where the woman is under 35 and have been trying to conceive for at least a year, it may be time to see a specialist. For couples where the woman is 35 or older, fertility help should be sought after trying for six months without success. If you have any questions about how to improve your chances of achieving a pregnancy, or need to speak with a specialist, we’re here to help. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our fertility doctors, reach out to us at 251-438-4200.