Research has found that women getting less than seven hours of sleep are 15% less likely to get pregnant than women who got seven to eight hours. On the other hand, women undergoing a treatment like IVF who got seven to eight hours of sleep were 25% more likely to get pregnant than women who got nine or more.
Getting enough high quality sleep is good for your general health as well as your fertility. While getting enough sleep can be difficult for couples struggling to conceive, getting in those eight hours each night can help improve your chances of achieving a pregnancy and building the family of your dreams.
While this topic is still being studied, overall, it is recommended that couples who are trying to conceive aim for seven to eight hours of quality sleep each night. Of course, everyone is different, and your needs may vary from season to season.
You're more likely to get pregnant around the time you are ovulating. This is when an egg becomes ready and you are at your most fertile. If you are under 40 and have regular sex without using contraception, there is an 8 in 10 chance you will get pregnant within 1 year.
Morning may be the best time to have sex for conception, at least as far as sperm are concerned. Some studies have suggested that sperm count and quality are slightly higher early in the morning, which may mean better odds of conception if they're deposited right after a good night's sleep.
Related: How to make a baby: The quick and dirty guide
Dr. Frederick agrees that semen in the early morning (before 7:30 a.m.) has the highest sperm concentration, total sperm count and normal morphology compared to the other times of the day.
Sperm counts may be higher in the morning for a number of reasons, including but not limited to whether you have sex during the day. It is generally agreed that the time that you have sex during the day doesn't significantly impact on your chances of getting pregnant.
Have sex often, at least 3 times a week, the more often you try, the more chances you get at becoming pregnant. Lying down for at least a few minutes after sex increases the odds that the sperm will be able to keep their date with the awaiting egg. Make sure that you have been properly screened for STDs.
Having vaginal sex every 2 to 3 days will give you the best chance of getting pregnant. Sperm can live for 2 to 3 days and this means there will always be fresh sperm in your system when you ovulate (release an egg).
Because a certain percentage of our eggs are abnormal at any age, and because fertilization has to happen within a narrow window after ovulation occurs, even a young, healthy woman trying to get pregnant has only about a 25% chance each month.
Those, whose sleeping schedules crunched down to less than seven hours were 15% less likely to become pregnant. Therefore, seven to nine hours of sleep per night may be the crucial takeaway for a safe and healthy pregnancy.
The answer is that sleep plays a major role in every stage of the fertility process, from menstruation to conception to birth. This means that at each step, poor sleep can serve as a roadblock.
So, how long should you wait? In the IUI study, participants were asked to wait for 15 minutes before getting up, but even less time is fine [2]. Sperm can reach the fallopian tube (where they need to be for conceiving) within 2-10 minutes of your partner finishing. On average, it takes 5 minutes [2].
A consistent lack of sleep may directly affect the release of luteinizing hormone, or LH — the hormone that triggers ovulation.
In a woman who is sleep-deprived, for example, the disruption can interfere with the hormones that trigger ovulation as it determines the menstrual cycle.
With frequent unprotected sex, most healthy couples conceive within one year. Of all couples trying to conceive: 30 percent get pregnant within the first cycle (about one month). 60 percent get pregnant within three cycles (about three months).
That said, the majority of couples will conceive within 1 year of trying. It is possible but less common to conceive in the first month or within 6 months. A couple looking to conceive should track ovulation and have regular vaginal intercourse in the days leading up to ovulation.
Peak times for pregnancies seemed to occur two days before ovulation – the chances of getting pregnant during this time was around 25%, confirming previous estimates. But the chances drop fairly steeply either side of the peak, to a 5% average over the rest of the cycle.
It takes just one sperm to fertilize a woman's egg. Keep in mind, though, for each sperm that reaches the egg, there are millions that don't. On average, each time men ejaculate they release nearly 100 million sperm.
Stay in bed for about 15 minutes after you have sex, “which is all it should take for the quickest guys, which are the healthiest sperm, to make it up into the cervix.” Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, OB-GYN, tells Romper.
Sometimes women don't ovulate regularly and consistently. Sporadic menstrual cycles can be caused by conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hormonal imbalances or obesity. Ovulation can also be impacted by excessive exercise, stress or low body weight.
A trained expert checks your sperm count, their shape, movement, and other characteristics. In general, if you have a higher number of normal-shaped sperm, it means you have higher fertility. But there are plenty of exceptions to this. A lot of guys with low sperm counts or abnormal semen are still fertile.
Once the sperm enters the reproductive system, it can take about 30-45 minutes to reach the egg. For this, it is important to have a healthy sperm which has the right kind of motility to reach the egg and fertilize it. Once inside the body of a woman, a healthy sperm can live up to 2-5 days.