For some women, getting pregnant seems to happen overnight. You’ll hear of stories of people being pregnant for nine months without realizing and people trying for just a couple of months before they conceive.
TV seems to show that getting pregnant is extremely easy. It happens by mistake or without any warning.
But here you are struggling to conceive. Doctors say that it can take up to a year for the average healthy couple to conceive. It just never feels like that when all your friends are talking babies. So, you’re left wondering if there is something wrong.
There really isn’t. The truth is it can take a year for healthy couples to conceive. It can take others much longer. You can improve your chances of getting pregnant with these 10 steps.
Stop Stressing About it or Trying So Hard
I know this is the hardest thing to do, but it really will help you. The more you worry about it, the less your body is in the right shape for getting pregnant. As you worry more and try so hard, your body release stress hormones and doesn’t function the way that it should. You’ll sleepless, and your uterus won’t be in the optimum condition for allowing a fertilized egg to implant.
Stressing can also affect your cycle. You may find that you have erratic cycles that are harder to work out when you are ovulating. You’ll not know the best time to try and conceive, so you end up needing many other methods to do it.
You soon find yourself worrying more and more about fertility issues, so your stress hormones increase further. It’s harder to get pregnant, and you end up in a difficult cycle, especially when doctors tell you that there are no known problems for why you’re not conceiving.
Some women find that just by deciding to stop trying and just let it happen, it really does happen. They lose the stress and the worry and are able to enjoy the time trying to conceive instead.
Make Sure Your Body is Filled with Nutrients
It’s time to take a look at your diet. As we try to conceive, we can start stressing about it not happening. That leads to us reaching for the junk food.
Instead, it’s important to focus on a healthy diet. Your body needs as many nutrients as you can possibly give it. You’ll not only keep yourself in overall good health, but you’ll make sure your blood flow is just right, and your hormonal balance is perfect. Your uterus is in a position to be able to accept an implant.
Deficiencies in some nutrients, especially vitamins C and D, have been linked to menstrual problems. We find that our periods are longer and it is harder to tell when ovulation starts and ends. Some deficiencies, especially in iron, zinc, and protein are also linked to birth defects and early miscarriages.
Eating well now will set you up for a positive pregnancy experience and a healthier baby, so it’s worth doing just for that!
Know Your Cycle Length!
It seems obvious to say, but some women don’t understand how ovulation affects pregnancy. We don’t always know our cycle lengths or the signs of ovulation, so don’t really know the best times to try and conceive.
This isn’t to say that you should only ever have sex when you’re ovulating. There’s no harm in “practicing” at other times of the month. But you do need to the best time to try for a baby.
It’s extremely important to know your length. This won’t just help you with the conceiving, but it will also help you with tracking when you do conceive and the gestation of your baby. Pull out a calendar and start marking off when you start and finish your period. You will get an idea of your cycle length, and you can start working out when you are ovulating.
Get Your Weight Under Control
Being within your optimum BMI will be best when you’re trying to conceive. This means being between 18 and 25 on the scale. Being under or overweight won’t stop you from getting pregnant, but it can make it a little harder.
You can improve your chances of being at your optimum weight level by following a healthy and balanced diet. A calorie controlled diet may be encouraged before trying to get pregnant, especially if you discuss your goals with your doctor.
The benefit of losing weight is that you will be healthier for your whole pregnancy. Being underweight could mean that you and your baby don’t get enough nutrients to support you both throughout the pregnancy. Being overweight can lead to low birth weights, premature labor, and other problems.
Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
It’s not just about the food you eat but the things you drink. Alcohol is something that you want to cut out of your diet as much as possible. That doesn’t mean cutting it out completely, but cutting down on the amount that you consume.
Research has shown that alcohol consumption makes it harder to conceive. Yes, that can seem ironic considering the amount of women who seem to get pregnant after getting drunk and having a one-night stand! Your estrogen levels change, which affects the ability for your ovaries to release eggs and for your uterus to allow the implantation take place.
This does mean to stop drinking so much. The odd glass of wine can be good for your heart health.
The amount your alcohol can reduce your fertility down by is debated between studies. However, all have shown that a large amount will reduce your chances of getting pregnant.
Reduce Your Caffeine Intake
It’s another part of the watching what you drink. Caffeine has been linked to birth defects and miscarriages, so even while you’re trying to conceive it’s worth cutting down just for that. But caffeine has also been linked to making it difficult to conceive.
You don’t want to have more than five cups a day, so there’s no need to cut it out completely. Caffeine isn’t just in your coffee, but also in black and green tea and some other drinks. Watch out for those energy drinks and soda!
This isn’t just about you! Get your partner to reduce the amount of caffeine he drinks, as it will affect his sperm production! You’ll also want him to follow the same tips above for reducing alcohol consumption and consuming a healthy diet.
It’s Time to Stop Smoking
Of course, smoking isn’t good for your health. You already know that, so it shouldn’t be too surprising when you find out that it’s bad for your fertility. This is something that will affect both your and your partner’s fertility.
For you, it will stop the uterus’ ability to allow the egg to implant and keep it there. For men, it can lead to a reduction in the sperm production and even damage DNA. Let’s not even consider the problems to the overall health and problems it can lead to during pregnancy.
Reduce Your Chance of Fumes, Chemicals, and Pesticides
If you work in an area where there are a lot of fumes and chemicals, now is the time to rethink your work. You don’t need to quit, but it is worth reducing the chance of exposure to them as much as possible. This is especially the case if you work around jet fuel, radiation, and nitrous oxide.
The chemicals shouldn’t stop you from getting pregnant, but they can make it harder. The issue is that they affect your menstrual cycle because they affect your hormonal balances.
And it’s not just about the chemicals in the workplace. Chemicals in your food or in your garden can also cause issues. If you use pesticides or herbicides in your gardening or know that they are in your good, you’ll want to reduce your exposure to them. They affect your hormones, making it harder for the ovaries to function properly.
This can also affect the men. Pesticides have shown to reduce sperm count, which makes it harder to reproduce.
You can make changes to your grocery shop to help improve your chances of getting pregnant. Switch to only organic fruit and vegetables to help. If you garden a lot, change the ways you discourage insects from getting in your garden.
Look at Your Workplace
It’s not all about the chemicals in the workplace. Some of the problems come from the stress and tensions. If you’re in a high-stress job, you can find it is harder to get pregnant. It is just like stressing about getting pregnant.
The difference with this is you may not be able to make changes to the workplace. Instead, you need to find ways to handle the stresses instead. Deal with situations that arise and find ways to lower the cortisol in your system. Boost the happy hormones and find ways to unwind to help with the balance of your hormones.
In fact, you’ll want to make your whole life as stress-free as possible. This isn’t just going to be food for your fertility, but will also help your overall health. Find ways of managing relationship or family problems and deal with the day-to-day issues. We can’t escape them, so we need to manage them.
One of the best tricks is to assess whether you can do something about a problem. For example, the car breaks down. You can stress about it, or you can get it to the garage. The latter is better for you. Once it’s there, the problem is out of your hands, so there’s no point worrying about it until you know the damage and fixes needed.
If you work shifts, it may be time to find a way to steady them. This could even mean offering just to work the night shift until you get pregnant, as a way to help improve your hormonal balance. Studies have shown that those who work steady shifts—night or day—have fewer fertility issues that those who rotated their shifts. Those who rotate shifts have 80 percent more fertility problems than those who just work day shifts.
Think About the Lubricants that You Use
It’s best to have intercourse on a regular basis. This can lead to dryness and discomfort, so there are high chances that you’ll be using more lubricants. Some of them can lead to issues with fertility. There are some chemicals in them that cause hormonal problems. It’s just like the pesticides and chemical problem above.
Some of the products also include some spermicidal ingredients. These inhabit the sperms’ ability to get into your cervix and to reach the released egg.
That doesn’t mean you have to avoid all lubricants completely. It’s worth looking out for natural options—and you probably have some in your kitchen cupboards already! Yes, olive and Carolan oil are great lubricants. Just make sure you avoid the soap completely. Soaps kill the sperm.
Only You Can Improve Your Chances of Getting Pregnant
It’s time to make some changes in your life. There’s only you that can do this, and only you who knows what you need to change your life.
Take a look at your food and drink. Could you make healthier choices when you go out for meals or when you’re cooking in the house? Is it possible to substitute a few ingredients to make sure you get more nutrients? What about changing your regular coffee to decaf? These early choices will also help to support your baby when you do get pregnant, especially in the crucial earlier stages when you don’t even know if you are pregnant or not.
From there, it’s time to manage your stress levels. Stress affects your hormones, which will lead to the ovaries not releasing eggs properly. Your menstrual cycle will be longer or more erratic, making it harder to track when you’re ovulating.
Take the above 10 steps, and you will improve your chances of getting pregnant.
