Deciding to start a family is exciting, but it can also feel overwhelming when you want to do everything possible to improve your chances of conceiving. In this episode, you will learn how long it typically takes to conceive, how to identify your fertile window, and the best ways to track and confirm ovulation. While there are no magic shortcuts, focusing on the basics can make a meaningful difference. We discuss how key aspects of your health, including exercise, diet, weight, sleep, stress, and substance use, can impact fertility and help you create the best possible environment for pregnancy.

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Hi Vanessa,

My husband and I are ready to start a family. Right after our wedding in June, I stopped taking birth control. I am 29, and I am overall pretty healthy. Initially, I thought I was fine if it took a while to get pregnant, but now I am thinking I want to be more proactive.

I have been tracking my cycle with an app, but I am sure there are more things I could be doing. Should I be getting certain tests done now, or wait and see what happens? Are there lifestyle things or supplements that actually make a difference? I also wonder how much things like stress, exercise, and diet really matter. Basically, I want to know what I can do to improve my chances of getting pregnant, and I don’t want to miss anything important that could help us conceive sooner rather than later.

Thank you for everything you do!

-Chloe

Chloe, congrats on getting married this summer, and it is so exciting that you are ready to start a family. I love that you want to be proactive and prepared.

How long does it take to get pregnant?

It can feel like such a significant shift to spend your whole life trying not to get pregnant, and then suddenly be working toward the opposite goal. You can run plenty of tests to learn about your fertility, but the only way to truly know if you can get pregnant or how easy it will be is to try. In research, infertility is generally defined as taking more than a year to conceive, and that is the benchmark you will hear referenced a lot in studies on fertility.

Understanding Your Fertile Window

One of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of conceiving is to time intercourse for your most fertile days. You are already off to a great start by tracking your cycles to give you a general idea of when you are most likely fertile. One study followed 346 women who were trying to conceive using natural family planning, which involves timing sex for the most fertile days of the cycle. The chances of getting pregnant in that group were about 38% in the first month, 68% within three months, 81% within six months, and 92% within a year. While it may not be an exact science, tracking your fertile window is helpful.

Tracking and Confirming Ovulation

If you want to get more precise, consider tracking ovulation. Having regular periods does not always mean you are ovulating. There are several ways to track ovulation. You can monitor cervical mucus to predict ovulation, or track your basal body temperature to confirm ovulation after it happens. Ovulation predictor kits and digital fertility monitors can detect hormone changes to help predict ovulation in advance. If you want both prediction and confirmation in one tool, consider Inito, an at-home fertility monitor that can track up to six fertile days and confirm ovulation. It also measures four key fertility hormones on one test strip, which can give you a clearer picture of your cycle. This can be especially helpful if you have irregular cycles or conditions like PCOS. Detailed data like this can also be beneficial if you decide to see a fertility specialist later.

Age and Fertility

Research shows that fertility naturally declines with age, and both your age and your partner’s age play a role. Although a pregnancy after the age of 35 is classified as advanced maternal age, do not panic about having a baby in your late thirties or beyond.

Fertility and Your Health

You cannot control your age, but many factors within your control influence your health. The foundation of good health includes exercising regularly, eating a healthy, whole foods diet, staying hydrated, and getting quality sleep. It’s easy to go down rabbit holes of optimizing every aspect of a healthy lifestyle. Your focus should be on the big picture. Anything that enhances your overall health will also support your fertility.

Exercise

Exercise is very personal, and the best approach is to find activities you genuinely enjoy. Being active supports everything from your physical and mental health to your sleep quality and stress levels. Research shows that regular physical activity can help protect against infertility, and this benefit applies to both women and men. The tricky thing about exercise is that it is so individualized. What is healthy will look different for everyone. For some people, it may be running long distances. For others, it could be a daily walk or working out at the gym a few times a week. There is no strong evidence that specific types of exercise are universally good or bad for fertility, so the key is to choose activities that you can maintain and that feel good for your body.

Diet and Hydration

There is no universal perfect diet, but research consistently shows that consuming a high amount of processed foods and sugar can negatively affect your overall health, which can in turn impact fertility. Focus on healthy whole foods as often as possible, including plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats. Hydration is just as important. Every cell in your body needs water to function. Staying hydrated supports everything from hormone regulation to cervical mucus production, all of which play a role in fertility. Make water your go-to beverage and stay hydrated throughout the day.

Supplements

The majority of the vitamins and nutrients you need should come from your diet. However, it can be challenging to meet all of your nutrient requirements with diet alone. While current evidence is not strong enough to recommend specific nutrient supplements solely to improve fertility, there is also no indication that common prenatal nutrients pose any risk of harm. Nutritional deficiencies, however, are proven to disrupt hormonal balance, affect sperm and egg quality, and impact overall reproductive health.

To keep things simple, on top of eating a relatively healthy diet, you can fill in nutritional gaps by taking a high-quality prenatal vitamin. Prenatal vitamins contain essential nutrients like folic acid or folate, which are critical from the very start of pregnancy. Ideally, you would begin taking a prenatal before you even get pregnant.

Beyond a prenatal vitamin, the only other supplements I usually highlight are vitamin D and omega-3s like DHA. You can get vitamin D from sunlight and omega-3s from fatty fish, so whether you need a supplement depends on your diet and lifestyle. Anytime you are considering supplements, talk with your doctor or midwife. They can help identify specific needs, test for deficiencies, and guide you on whether an additional supplement is necessary.

Weight and BMI

Your activity level and diet are the biggest influences on your weight and BMI. Research shows that women who are overweight or obese often have a harder time getting pregnant. This is partly because body fat produces estrogen, and when estrogen levels are too high, it can interfere with ovulation. Being overweight is also linked to insulin resistance, which can disrupt hormones and reproductive function. On the opposite end of the spectrum, being underweight can also affect hormone balance and ovulation.

There is no single “perfect” BMI or weight for fertility. The goal is to be at a healthy weight for your body. While you may not be able to change your weight overnight, even small, positive changes can make a difference in supporting your fertility. In one study of women who had been trying for at least two years to conceive and had a BMI over 30 (considered obese), a six-month program of diet and lifestyle changes improved ovulation, pregnancy rates, and overall outcomes.

Sleep 

Sleep is also essential for your overall health, and it plays a surprisingly significant role in fertility. Research shows that a lack of sleep or consistently poor-quality sleep can negatively impact your chances of conceiving. One of the main reasons is that sleep helps regulate your hormones. Including hormones important for reproductive function like progesterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, testosterone, and estradiol. Making sleep a regular habit not only supports your general well-being but also helps keep your reproductive hormones in balance.

Stress

Chronic stress can also influence reproductive hormones. Your HPA axis is made up of your hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands. This system regulates how your body responds to stress. When you are stressed, this system triggers a chain reaction involving your endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. Essentially, it prioritizes survival over less essential functions like reproduction. There is some evidence linking stress and infertility, although it is not always clear which comes first. Difficulty conceiving can cause stress, and stress may also affect the ability to conceive.

One study of 401 couples trying to conceive found no connection between cortisol levels and time to pregnancy. However, they find that women with the highest alpha-amylase levels (a stress biomarker) took 29% longer to conceive. Another study followed 111 women with proven fertility (meaning they had previously had a child) who recorded their perceived stress daily for up to seven menstrual cycles or until pregnancy. 81% conceived, and there was no difference in pregnancy rates between women reporting high or moderate stress compared to low stress.

The takeaway here is that severe or chronic stress can negatively affect reproductive function. Still, moderate, everyday stress does not appear to have a significant impact on fertility in otherwise healthy women. Finding ways to manage stress is still essential for your overall well-being, and it may make the process of trying to conceive feel less overwhelming.

Alcohol, Caffeine, and Other Substances

Keeping in mind that anything positive for your health will benefit your fertility, the opposite is also true. Harmful substances like recreational drugs and smoking will negatively impact reproductive function and overall well-being. The research on alcohol and caffeine before pregnancy is somewhat mixed. As part of a healthy lifestyle, it makes sense to limit both. There is no strong evidence that you need to completely abstain while trying to conceive, but it is a good idea to avoid excessive amounts.

What to Focus On

There is a lot of advice out there, and it can feel overwhelming. The key is to focus on the fundamentals. Track your cycles and time your baby-making activities when you’re most fertile. Next, ensure you support your health with balanced nutrition, regular movement, good sleep, stress management, and avoiding substances that can harm fertility. Remember that it takes two people to make a baby, and your partner should be doing the same. Men are solely responsible in about 20% of cases of infertility, and are a contributing factor in another 30% to 40%. If you and your partner have room for improvement on building healthy habits, it may take time. Focus on what you can control, make gradual changes, and give yourself grace along the way.

Talking to Your Doctor

It is always a good idea to schedule a checkup with your doctor or midwife if you are planning to get pregnant. If you have any underlying medical conditions, irregular cycles, or specific concerns, a preconception visit can help you identify anything that might need attention before you start trying. Your provider can also let you know if any lab work or other testing would be helpful now. Down the road, you are having trouble conceiving, you and your partner can talk with your doctor about a referral to a fertility specialist.

Additional Resources:

• How Age Affects Pregnancy: Facts, Myths, and What Really Matters
• Exercise During Pregnancy, Recommendations and What to Avoid
• The Evidence on Nutrition and Trending Diets During Pregnancy
• Hydration
• What to Look for in a Prenatal Vitamin
• Ensuring Optimal Vitamin D Levels for You and Your Baby
• Are You Getting Enough DHA in Pregnancy?
• Evidence-Based Tips to Improve Your Sleep
• Stress and Anxiety During Pregnancy
• Is Any Amount of Alcohol Safe During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding?
• How Much Caffeine Is Safe During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding?

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