Preparing for Pregnancy

Maintain a healthy weight

If your body fat level is 10-15% higher than average, your body can become overloaded with estrogen. This increase in estrogen levels can affect your reproductive cycle. On the opposite end, body fat levels of 10-15% below normal can also affect your reproductive process by slowing or shutting it down.

Abnormal hormonal imbalance

Irregularities in the hormone system (characterized by irregular menstrual cycles: short, long, or variable periods) can affect ovulation. One of the best ways to know if you are ovulating is if you are having 28 day cycles. If your periods come sooner or later than every 28 days, you might not be ovulating regularly, making it harder to become pregnant.

Know the effects of medication you are taking

Antidepressants, antibiotics, painkillers, and other drugs used to treat chronic disorders may cause temporary infertility. Talk to your doctor about these medications and their effect on fertility before changing your medication regimen.

Eliminate tobacco or alcohol use

Smoking and even moderate alcohol consumption can increase your risk of infertility and impair conception.

Consider occupational or environmental hazards

Prolonged exposure to high mental stress, high temperatures, chemicals, radiation, or heavy electromagnetic or microwave emissions may reduce your fertility.

Age

The number one predictor of fertility is your age. You are born with only so many eggs. Over time you use up those eggs and the quality goes down. So it is easier to get pregnant when you are younger compared to when you are older because of the quality of the eggs. If you have been trying to become pregnant for more than 6 months and are over 35 years of age, you are experiencing infertility. If you are younger than 35 and have been trying for more than a year, you too are experiencing infertility.