When you’ve reached that time in your life where welcoming a new family member (and I don’t mean a new dog) is on your mind, there are a number of things you can do to help optimise your chances of getting pregnant.
I get asked quite often about the best ways to maximise your chances of falling pregnant naturally. There’s a lot of information out there on the internet about this topic, so I thought I would give you some key points to take away.
Fertility Factors
Once you decide that you’re ready to have a baby, you need to be realistic about how much time it may take before you become pregnant. When you start trying for a baby, most pregnancies occur during the first six cycles. While this is not always the case, the rule of thumb suggests the chance of you becoming pregnant lowers as the number of months without becoming pregnant increases.
Naturally, your age plays a huge part in becoming pregnant. Starting from about age 32, a woman’s change of conceiving starts to decrease gradually. This decline speeds up after 35 years of age. At 30, a woman’s chance of conceiving each month is about 20 percent. At 40, it is around five percent.
How your lifestyle can impact your fertility
This is the one part of your fertility you have control over, so be wise and think about the positive changes you can make. While we know diet, weight and alcohol can affect fertility, here are a few other factors that may influence you chances of getting pregnant.
Smoking cigarettes: The use of tobacco has been linked to fertility issues, but the good news is that infertility caused through smoking is reversible and your fertility may improve within a year of stopping smoking.
Exercise: While we all know exercise is good, you should be aware that too much vigorous exercise can actually make getting pregnant harder. Vigorous physical activity should be limited to less than five hours per week.
Caffeine: It is suggested that you should limit your caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day during the time when you’re trying to conceive.
Stress: The influence of stress on your fertility is based on observational studies, which suggest that there is a clear association between the two, so lowering your levels of anxiety and tension will benefit your overall health as well as your fertility.
While the above factors have influence over your fertility, there is nothing better than seeing a fertility specialist to discuss the subject. We can discuss these issues in relation to your case and make conscious changes to optimise your chances of having a baby.
Useful links
Discover how prenatal vitamin advice can help you. Read about other fertility related conditions can I assist with.
- Can alternative treatments help you get pregnant?