Trying for a baby? Many couples struggle with fertility issues. This could be due to a variety of factors from lifestyle choices to genetics. Here are just a few tricks to help increase your chances of conceiving.
Cut out the bad habits
Certain bad habits could be affecting your ability to fall pregnant. Quitting these bad habits could help to boost your fertility.
Smoking is one example of a bad habit that can affect fertility in men and women. For women, it can reduce egg quantity and quality, as well as lowering IVF success rates. For men, it can similarly affect sperm quality.
Heavy drinking can similarly affect your ability to conceive. Alcohol can decrease the sperm count in men, whilst it has also been shown to increase the time it takes for women to fall pregnant.
Another bad habit you may want to cut out is lack of exercise. Studies have also shown that leading an active lifestyle increases fertility, although you shouldn’t overdo it – regular high-intensity exercise has been shown to have a negative impact.
Eat the right foods
Changing your diet could also help to make you more fertile.
Eating lots of fruit and vegetables is one of the best ways to improve egg quality by giving the body a rich supply of glutathione. The likes of kale meanwhile can boost estrogen metabolism, which is useful for women trying to conceive.
As for improving sperm quality, tomatoes are a great fruit due to their lycopene content. Lentils meanwhile have also been linked to improving male fertility.
Both men and women can benefit from cutting down on unhealthy foods containing high levels of fat or sugar. Eating less red meat and more fish can also make a difference in many cases.
Say no to stress
Too much stress could also be reducing your chances of conceiving. Stress reduces sex drive and can also lower testosterone levels, which are important for male fertility.
Try to remove stressful triggers from your life or take steps to destress to help lower your levels of cortisol (the stress hormone). In many cases, struggling to conceive can cause stress itself – try to not get frustrated and try to enjoy sex as you would have done before trying for a baby.
Set a sex schedule
Timing can also play a big part when trying to conceive. Many women are most fertile two to three days before ovulation – by understanding your menstrual cycle you may be able to choose the best times to have sex to increase the chance of conceiving. Sites such as Ovulation Calculator may be able to help you with this, whilst there are plenty of apps that can also help.
You’re best having sex every other day. Whilst there’s nothing to suggest that having daily sex can harm fertility, the sperm quantity may not be as great for some men, which could impact.
Know when to consider further action
If you’re trying all of the above and you’re still out of luck, you may want to consider other options. If you haven’t already seen a doctor, it could be worth visiting your local GP and enquiring about a fertility test to see if there is an underlying problem.
Fortunately, there are many options for those with fertility problems. Doctors may sometimes prescribe drugs that may help to aid fertility. You may also ask your doctor to prescribe one that supports your diet. You can choose to take men's prenatal vitamin that are vegan-friendly and ketogenic. A lot of people are successful in using these drugs, but sadly they don’t work for everyone. These drugs can have side effects which are worth looking into before you try this treatment plan. Many women take fertility drugs for about three to six months before trying a different treatment.
The next option could be to look into fertility procedures. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are the two most popular procedure options, but there are many others. There may even be the possibility of surgery.
If all this fails, you can then always look into surrogacy and adoption. Whilst this may not be as desirable as giving birth to a child yourself, it still gives you the chance to become a parent and enjoy having your own child.