Are there any tricks to getting pregnant

For women trying to get pregnant, a multivitamin containing folate may be especially beneficial. Have a chat with your doctor about supplements including any multivitamins that could help get you closer to pregnancy. Exercise has many benefits for your health, including increased fertility. Increasing moderate physical activity has positive effects on fertility for women and men, especially those with obesity. The trick is that moderation is key. Excessive high intensity exercise has actually been associated with decreased fertility in certain women.

Excessive exercise may change the energy balance in the body, and negatively affect your reproductive system. If you plan to increase your activity, add it gradually and make sure your healthcare team is aware. See if your doctor is in favor of you adding these yoga poses to your routine. As your stress levels increase, your chances of getting pregnant decrease.

This is likely due to the hormonal changes that occur when you feel stressed. Receiving support and counseling may reduce anxiety and depression levels, and increase your chances of becoming pregnant. However, other studies did not find a strong link between caffeine intake and an increased risk of infertility. Consider limiting your caffeine intake to one or two cups of coffee per day to be on the safe side. Give these non-coffee options a try. Weight is one of the most influential factors when it comes to fertility for men and women.

In fact, being either underweight or overweight is associated with increased infertility. This is because the amount of fat stored in your body influences menstrual function. Having obesity especially is associated with lack of ovulation and menstrual irregularity but also with impaired egg development. They can help you do it in a healthy and sustainable way.

The supplement kind, that is. Consuming iron supplements and non-heme iron, which comes from plant-based foods, may decrease the risk of ovulatory infertility. A recent study concluded that heme iron from animal sources had no effect on fertility and non-heme only had some benefit for women who already had iron deficiency. More evidence is needed to confirm whether iron supplements should be recommended to all women, especially if iron levels are already healthy.

But making sure your iron levels are solid with your doctor is a good step. Non-heme iron sources are more difficult for your body to absorb, so try taking them with foods or drinks high in vitamin C to increase absorption. Alcohol consumption can negatively affect fertility.

One study found that having more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week was associated with a longer time to get pregnant. An older study involving 7, women found that a high alcohol intake was associated with more infertility examinations. However, the evidence on moderate alcohol consumption is mixed. One older study found no link between moderate consumption and infertility, while other studies report that moderate intake can affect fertility.

Ultimately, avoiding excessive consumption of alcohol is recommended. Talk to you doctor about your own intake to ensure the best outcome for you. Certain natural supplements have been linked to increased fertility, especially in animal studies. Always check with your doctor before taking of natural supplements as efficacy in humans has not been well studied.

Good nutrition is vital for a healthy body and reproductive system and to help you become pregnant. Eating a nutritious diet and making positive lifestyle changes can help boost fertility and prepare your body for pregnancy. Talk to your healthcare team to find the best choices for you. Have questions about infertility tests, treatments, or lifestyle factors? Trying to get pregnant? We have some suggestions on how you can increase your chances of getting a positive result.

Obviously, if you want to get pregnant, you need to stop using birth control. What you may not know is that you may need time for your fertility to return. It depends on what kind of birth control you were using. With most forms of birth control, your fertility will return the next cycle after you stop using it. That takes time. It may also take a few months for your cycles to regulate after hormonal IUD removal. With a copper-only IUD, your fertility should return quickly.

Talk to your doctor so you have realistic expectations when you can start trying to get pregnant. Having sex often for the entire month is good for baby-making. Every other day or every two days is a good amount, according to research and the opinion of the Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

You could aim to have sex every day of your cycle, but for most people, this will lead to burnout, and it's really not necessary. Having sex three to four times a week boosts your chances for success because it increases the odds of having sex on your most fertile days.

If you're only aiming for ovulation and you make a mistake, you may lose that month. If you have sex every other day or every two days, you're likely to have sex at least once, if not twice, during your most fertile time.

Frequent sex improves sperm health, too. Healthier swimmers mean you'll be more likely to conceive. You may be able to get pregnant faster if you optimize your conception sex , which includes things like timing, frequency, and understanding when in your cycle you are most likely to conceive. One important thing to be aware of is that regular personal lubricants, like Astroglide and KY Jelly, are harmful to sperm. The best lubricant for conception is your own cervical fluid.

But if this is an issue for you , there are sperm-friendly options available, such as mineral oil, canola oil, or hydroxyethylcellulose-based lubricants such as Pre-Seed and ConceivEase. There is no evidence that certain sexual positions or lying down after sex will help you conceive. However, research on Intrauterine Insemination IUI found that lying down after insemination boosts pregnancy rates.

If you're trying to conceive faster, you may want to at least try lying on your back after sex for a few minutes. On the other hand, if missionary position is a big turn-off for you, maybe more creative positions would help. Research has found that sexual arousal plays a role in how much sperm is ejaculated. Female orgasm may also help with conception. So having passionate sex may help you get pregnant faster as well.

You can get pregnant whether you orgasm or not! Your most fertile days are the two days prior to ovulation. You can figure out which days these are through several methods, including charting your body basal temperature BBT , checking for fertile cervical mucus , tracking cervical changes , and using a saliva ferning microscope.

The problem with all these methods is they have a steep learning curve. For BBT charting, figuring out how to get your temps right in the morning and interpreting your chart is an issue.

You may have an easier time using ovulation predictor kits or ovulation monitors. Ovulation tests work like pregnancy tests. You pee on a stick or strip of paper to get a result. They are a little more difficult to interpret than pregnancy tests, so read the instructions carefully. Fertility monitors take much of the learning curve out of ovulation tests.

The digital device tells you when you're most fertile. They are more expensive, though, so you may want to combine charting with ovulation predictor kits. In the short term, there are quite a few things many of which are probably obvious that a people can do—and not do—to increase their chances of getting pregnant. Get enough sleep. Odd sleep and wake cycles can throw off the menstrual cycle, which could make getting pregnant quickly more difficult. Cut back on caffeinated beverages. Get too stressed out.

But getting too much exercise or doing frequent strenuous workouts could interfere with ovulation, Live Science reported. Doctors see a lot of menstrual disturbances in women who exercise heavily, and a lot of times these women need to cut back on their workouts if they want to become pregnant, Pavone told Live Science.

As women get older, their fertility decreases. This is because of age-related changes in the ovaries that cause a decline in the quantity and quality of her eggs. With advancing age, there's also an increased risk for some health problems, such as uterine fibroids , endometriosis and blockage of the fallopian tubes, which can contribute to a loss of fertility. There's a gradual fertility decline in women beginning in their 30s, a sharper decline after age 37 and a steep fertility decline after age 40 , Pavone said.

These declines mean that it may take longer to become pregnant. Smoking can lead to fertility problems in both women and men.

Chemicals found in cigarette smoke, such as nicotine and carbon monoxide, speed up the loss rate of a woman's eggs, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Smoking ages a woman's ovaries and depletes her supply of eggs prematurely, according to the Mayo Clinic. In a study published in in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology , researchers looked at scientific findings around smoking, alcohol, addiction and fertility; they found that smoking is linked to decreased fertility.

It's also a good idea for women to stay away from secondhand smoke, which may affect their chances of becoming pregnant. Marijuana and other recreational drug use should also be avoided while trying to conceive. It's safest for a woman to avoid alcohol when she is hoping to become pregnant. A woman should also stop consuming alcohol if she stops using birth control because she wants to get pregnant.

That said, a Danish study of 1, women over a five-year period did not find a link between regular alcohol consumption and binge drinking, and fertility, according to the study published in the journal Human Reproduction. Drinking alcohol at moderate one to two drinks per day or heavy more than two drinks per day levels can make it difficult for a woman to get pregnant, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Both the woman and the man should consider having an infertility evaluation if the woman is 35 or older and has not become pregnant after six months of having sex regularly without using birth control, Pavone said. Pavone also recommended that a woman who is under 35 and her partner should consult a fertility specialist if she hasn't become pregnant after one year of having unprotected intercourse on a regular basis.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS , a hormonal disorder, is one of the most common reasons for female infertility.

There is no single test to identify PCOS, but a doctor will determine if a woman fulfills two of the following three criteria, the CDC said :.

It is not clear why some women develop this syndrome, although it is often diagnosed when they struggle to get pregnant. There is a strong link between PCOS-related infertility and weight. A number of prescribed medications may also induce ovulation and regulate insulin levels, such as letrozole and metformin. High levels of insulin push the pituitary gland to release large amounts of hormones that disrupt ovulation.

Another intervention is laparoscopic ovarian drilling, in which a surgeon makes small holes in a woman's ovaries to help reduce the amount of male hormones they produce, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. This procedure, which is done under general anaesthesia, is not without risk, and can also negatively affect fertility if there is too much damage to the ovaries.

Doctors recommend in-vitro fertilization if other interventions have not worked, or as a primary treatment if monitoring, cost and accessibility are not issues. Endometriosis is another common reproductive condition, affecting more than one in 10 women in the United States. It occurs when tissue found in the uterus grows in other parts of the body, such as the ovaries or fallopian tubes. Even mild endometriosis can reduce fertility, while severe endometriosis can distort a woman's pelvic anatomy and, for example, block her fallopian tubes, according to a study in The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of India.

It is still possible for a woman with endometriosis to become pregnant, and, once pregnant, the pregnancy is expected to be no different to that of a woman without endometriosis. Medical treatment through drugs does not improve fertility, according to Endometriosis UK , an endometriosis-focused charity. These medications involve regulating a person's hormones, and can slow the growth of endometrial tissue and prevent new pieces from developing, said the Mayo Clinic.

But because these drugs are based on hormones such as birth control therapies, and drugs that block ovulation or reduce the amount of estrogen , they actively stop a woman from getting pregnant.

Endometriosis presents differently in different women, so its treatment depends on the individual, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.