Optimizing Fertility

1. Take your vitamins. Folic acid, essential to a baby’s normal brain development, may also improve sperm counts in men*.
2. Know when you ovulate. An over-the-counter ovulation predictor kit can help you pinpoint the mid-cycle date.
3. Time sex. Be sure to schedule sex 2-3 days prior to, and 12-24 hours after, ovulation. Sperm can live up to 72 hours after intercourse.
4. Don’t stress about positions. Missionary, or sex while lying down, doesn’t force sperm to defy gravity while traveling to the fallopian tube, but almost any position can produce a pregnancy.
5. Keep it cool. Excessive heat from workplace settings, saunas, hot tubs and laptop computers can negatively impact sperm production.
6. Maintain a healthy weight. A body mass index that is too high or too low affects ovulation in some women. Overweight men may also experience male infertility.
7. Stop smoking tobacco or marijuana.
8. Avoid excessive drinking.
9. Don’t take drugs.
10. Try not to stress. After the long list of don’ts, your fertility doctor will advise you to relax. Really?! We know it’s hard. Try to find activities you enjoy, alone and as a couple: yoga, walks, massage, warm baths, funny movies, etc.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11872201