Seven Easy Steps to Improve Your Fertility and Get Pregnant

Seven Easy Steps to Improve Your Fertility and Get Pregnant

About 85% of couples get pregnant within one year, but 1 in 7 couples take longer than a year to get pregnant. The good news is that you can improve your fertility in 7 simple steps in less than 4 weeks:
1. Control Your Weight
2. Timing of Intercourse
3. Improve HIS health
4. Test Your Fertility
5. Eat Healthy
6. Reduce Stress
7. Acupuncture


1. Control Your Weight

Being under or overweight decreases your fertility, and maintaining an optimal weight improves your fertility. The best way to find out whether you weigh too much or not is to calculate your body mass index, the BMI.
Losing some pounds is cheaper than expensive fertility treatments , PLUS with a betterw eight you decrease major pregnancy complications and significantly improve your chances having a healthy baby. So why not try it first?

2. SEX:

Timing of Intercourse in Relation to Ovulation
First of all do you know your fertile days? Do you ovulate? Do you hav e a regular menstrual cycle?
Your fertile days are the 5-6 days leading up to ovulation and the day of ovulation. Many couples don’t seem to realize that you need to make love regularly to improve your fertility. That means making love regularly throughout the menstrual cycles and more frequently, probably every 24-48 hours during your fertile days.
The egg can only be fertilized for about 24 hours after ovulation but sperm can live in the lower portion of a woman's reproductive tract up to five days. You can potentially increase your chances of conceiving by making love during the 2-3 days prior to ovulation.
Finding out when you ovulate is the key:
Create your own Fertility and Ovulation Calendar
Chart your basal body temperature (BBT)
Chart your fertility signs like symptoms and cervical mucus:
Use Ovulation predictor kits (OPKs)

3. Improve HIS Health and Get Him Tested

It takes two to get pregnant. Over 50% of infertile couples have a male issues. Which means that if he doesn't have enough sperms or his sperms are not healthy enough then your chances getting pregnant significantly decline. Do a sperm count and find out if his sperms are healthy and if he has enough of them. Follow these ten tips to improve his sperm count.
Get him checked for varicocele
Remove all toxins from his diet
Add a vitamin and herbal supplement to his diet
Make him lose weight if he is overweight
Keep the testes cool

4. Test Your Fertility at Home

There are several easy ways to quickly assess major aspects of your fertility at home.
Do a Basal Body Temperature Fertility Chart
Check your LH levels
Measure his sperms
Check your vaginal pH

5. Stay Away From Bad Stuff and Eat A Healthy Diet

Alcohol and smoking decrease fertility, make it less likely to get pregnant and increase pregnancy complications once you get pregnant.
Stop smoking. It is common knowledge that smoking is bad for your health, but studies have also shown that women who smoke are less fertile than those who do not. Also, women whose mothers smoked during their pregnancies are less likely to conceive.
Reduce alcohol intake. Drinking alcohol, even in moderation, can decrease fertility. The results of once study show a greater than 50% reduction in the probability of conception when the participants consumed alcohol.
You are what you eat and many doctors now believe a healthy diet PLUS supplements like folic acid can improve your fertility.
So what should you eat?
More monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) and less trans fats (like the kind found in many baked goods or fast foods).
Increase intake of vegetable protein (like soy), while reducing animal protein (like red meat).
More high fiber, low-glycemic foods — like whole grains, vegetables, and some fruits, while reducing the intake of refined carbohydrates and sugars.
Consume moderate amounts of high-fat dairy products — like ice cream, whole milk, and cheese.
No more caffeine. Studies have shown that women who drink excessive amounts of caffeine have delayed conception. In one study, women who drank more than one cup of coffee per day had a 50% reduction in fertility compared to those who did not consume coffee.
Take your vitamins. Especially vitamin E. Women trying to conceive should take a multivitamin or prenatal vitamin in addition to vitamin E. When couples were given vitamin E in one study, their fertility increased significantly.
Try herbal supplements. Herbs like Vitex (Vitamins AND Vitex are in FertilAid), have been used to successfully increase fertility.
The right diet can made a difference because the majority of women experiencing ovulatory dysfunction were also suffering from undiagnosed or sub clinical PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), a condition related to insulin resistance that also affects ovulation.
Check your current prescriptions. Some medications can interfere with fertility. Consult your doctor or pharmacist to see if your current medications could be hindering your chances of conception.

6. Reduce Stress

It’s rarely healthy to live with a lot of stress and the relationship between stress and infertility is less clear. But there are several studies showing that reducing stress may improve fertility.
What can you do to reduce Stress?
Cook
Get regular massages
Exercise
Take long weekends off
Listen to music
Do yoga
Read and write journals
Garden
Pamper yourself
Spend more time with your family and friend
Hold hands with your partner

7. Acupuncture

There are some studies done in women with fertility treatments which show that acupuncture can improve fertility. If after a thorough fertility work-up no specific reason for your infertility has been found, why not try acupuncture? There is little harm to use these methods and it can save you money getting pregnant.