1. How accurate you are at finding out when you ovulate.
2. Consistency of vaginal sex during your fertile window.
3. How well your bodies hormones control your reproductive cycle.
4. Whether your body is ready or not to support a pregnancy.
5. Knowledge, control and treatment of medical conditions.
6. Your partners sperm count and quality.
7. Your age.

From this list you can see that there is really only one thing you can’t work on – age. If you feel that you have left it too late and that age is stopping you, please read through article and take action on these tips to conceive and see how you go. If you have exhausted all natural options then it might be time to consider In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment.

Tip #1 – Find Out When You Are Ovulating

Let’s keep it real here, you really only have a handful of days each year that you are fertile. For some women with irregular cycles or other conditions they have even less. After ovulating, your egg only remains viable for between 12-24 hours. So each year, there are between 6-12 days of being fertile. If you have vaginal sex every day, you have between 1% and 3% of actually having sex on your fertile days. Since having sex every day for most people is unsustainable, your best option is to know when you are ovulating, so that you can target which days to have sex on. I have written an article about how to calculate ovulation which will guide you to do this yourself.

Tip #2 – Vaginal Sex and Frequency During The Fertile Window

Once you know exactly when you are fertile, the next step is having vaginal sex at the right time. To understand why the frequency and timing of sex is important you need to know a few things. Firstly, you need to factor in the time it takes for freshly ejaculated sperm to reach the newly released egg in the fallopian tube. It can take between 1-2 days for sperm to be in a position where it is ready and waiting in the fallopian tube for an egg to be released. (Read more on this process in my article how to have a baby.) Considering that an egg only lasts 12-24 hours after being released from the ovary, you really need to be having vaginal sex before ovulation occurs. Using the mucus charting method gives you approximately 40 hours notice before ovulation occurs, giving you enough time to have sex daily for around 2-3 days prior to the egg being released. For some in depth information on mucus charting and sex frequency I recommend you check out the instant downloadable premium eBook, “How To Get Pregnant In 90 Days Or Less” by fertility expert Rebecca van de Paverd.

Tip #3 – Hormones and Your Reproductive Cycle

Your reproductive system is effectively a collection of parts with specific functions. For example, the ovaries are responsible for releasing eggs, the endometrium (uterus lining) is responsible for supporting an implanted embryo and the fallopian tubes are the pathway between the uterus and ovaries where an egg can potentially be fertilized by a sperm. The entire female reproductive system is driven by hormones. The hormones job is to tell your reproductive what to do and when to do it. Your menstrual cycle and ability to conceive is negatively affected when these hormones are released at the wrong times and in the wrong amounts – also known as having hormonal imbalances. Here is a list of some things that can create hormonal imbalances:

• Stress
• Being overweight
• Being underweight
• Diet that lacks proper nutrition
• Polycystic ovaries

One of the most common symptoms of hormonal imbalances is irregular cycles but can also include anovulation (where no egg is released at all). The good thing is that each of the things that cause hormonal imbalances can be reversed through lifestyle choices that improve health and well being.

Tip #4 – Prepare Your Body For Pregnancy

I touch on some of the basics of preparing your body for pregnancy in my article 5 Steps To Conception. However I think it is very important to understand how preparing your body can actually allow you to conceive, where before you weren’t able to. The whole reproduction system is very complex, and makes up only a small portion of an incredibly complex human body. For a pregnancy to be successful everything really needs to be just right, both within the reproductive system and the entire body.

We can gain a lot of insight if we look at how our bodies react in the cold. I know you came here to read about ways to help you conceive, and this will help you, but please stick with me for a moment while I explain. You need to understand that the human bodies primary function is to survive. It will make sacrifices in some parts of the body to ensure vital organs required to live are kept running. Have you ever been out in the cold for an extended period of time and realised the tips of your fingers get really cold? If you stay in the cold long enough they may even go numb and feel like they are about to drop off! What your body is doing is directing more blood to your vital organs and less to non critical parts of your body like your fingers. This is a classic example of your body prioritising to survive.

This behaviour of the human body is the same when it comes to fertility. If you are overweight your body prioritises its energy to surviving, and will neglect non critical things like reproduction. Depending on the severity of your weight, you may have some of the following conditions:

• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• High cholesterol
• Type 2 diabetes
• Respiratory problems
• Sleep apnea
• Osteroarthritis
• Hormone imbalances

If you need to lose weight in order to get pregnant, I recommend you watch this video by Mike Geary who has helped thousands of people just like you to lose weight safely and naturally.

Tip #5 – Managing Medical Conditions That Affect Fertility

There are many medical conditions that can negatively affect fertility, most of which can be treated. Here are some of the more common fertility conditions:

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
• Endometriosis
• Hormone imbalance
• Diminished ovarian reserve (one ovary removed or missing)
• Uterine fibroids
• Sexually transmitted diseases/infections

If you think you may have one of these conditions the best thing you can do is see a doctor. There is only so much reading and research you can do on the internet to help you. A doctor will be able to give personal advice that takes into account your circumstances, diagnose your condition (if you have one) and provide medication or direction on how to manage or cure it. I will however be providing some information about these conditions in the future, but the best thing to do is to see a health professional.

Tip #6 – Your Partner’s Sperm Quality and Count

The amount and quality of sperm your partner produces can dramatically affect your chances of conception. The quality of the sperm determines its ability to swim to and penetrate an egg. The best way to check is to visit the doctor for a semen analysis. The semen sample is tested in a lab where they look for two main characteristics:

• Sperm count - The sperm count is measured in two ways; total sperm count and sperm concentration. The total sperm count measures how many sperm there are in the entire ejaculate, which will provide an accurate figure providing your partner abstains from ejaculating for 2 days prior to the test. Sperm concentration measures how many sperm there are per millilitre of semen.
• Sperm quality -The amount of viable sperm is measured to find out what percentage of your partners sperm are capable of penetrating and fertilizing an egg. Some different types of abnormalities of sperm can include a small or large head, two heads, small or large tail, split tail, abnormal middle piece and abnormal acrosome. The acrosome is the tip or ‘cap’ of the sperm that allows the sperm to penetrate the outer membrane of an egg.

The ideal outcome of a semen analysis is a sperm concentration of 15 million (or more) sperm per millilitre of ejaculate and a total sperm count of at least 40million sperm per entire ejaculate. A semen analysis also measures semen volume, pH levels (acidity) and fructose levels. If these levels are abnormal some further investigation will be required from your doctor as it could indicate other issues.

If you partners sperm count or quality is low, there are some things you can do to naturally increase them. The first thing to change are lifestyle factors that have a negative impact. Smoking or drinking alcohol should be stopped for at least a month prior to trying to get pregnant. Your partner should also try to engage in activities that reduce stress. This could include meditation, going for a run, watching tv, cooking or playing video games – it doesn’t matter what the activity is, as long as it reduces stress for him.

Another great tip to increase sperm count and quality is to wear lose underwear. Sperm actually like to be slightly cooler than normal body temperate, which is why the scrotum hangs outside men’s bodies. If your partner wears tight underwear it can restrict airflow and cause the temperature to rise slightly. Even a slight rise in temperature can negatively affect sperm production.

Tip #7 – Understand The Effects Of Age On Fertility

The main reason age affects fertility in women is because your eggs are the same age as you. When a girl is born, they already hold all the eggs they will ever have in their life. As you get older there are increased instances of egg abnormalities, fewer eggs available to be released (also called diminished ovarian reserve) and problems with ovulating due to age related hormone imbalances (read Tip# 3 about hormones).

So at what age does female fertility begin to decline? Well, a study of 782 healthy couples conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found that women’s fertility began to decrease in their late 20′s, with substantial decreases in their late 30′s. This does not mean that if you are in your 40′s that you can’t get pregnant, but you will have to accept that it might take longer. Studies have shown women up to the age of 45 are still more than capable of conceiving. Unless you have been diagnosed as being infertile, there is always a chance that you can become pregnant. The oldest woman to conceive naturally was aged 57 years old, and the oldest to conceive using medical treatment was 70 years old.

Summary

If you are trying to get pregnant then you should be looking at ways to increase your chances of conceiving. By reading and implementing the 7 tips outlined in this article you will greatly increasing your chances of getting pregnant regardless of your age. If you would like further reading on this topic, I suggest you have a look at the eBook How To Get Pregnant In 90 Days Or Less which is authored by fertility expert Rebecca van de Paverd.