Cheers! You’ve decided to go in the family way. However, conception differs for each woman. It is difficult to predict how long it will take you to conceive. To stack the odds in your favor, you might want to try these five tips to increase female fertility.

1. Follow a fertility-friendly diet

Eating wholesome foods such as fresh fruits, leafy greens, lean proteins, dairy, and healthy fats can play a role in improving your fertility. By improving egg production, these foods enhance your reproductive health and may ease symptoms of ovulatory infertility. Foods with folic acid, Vitamin B-12, and omega-3 fatty acids might also help you get pregnant sooner. In addition, maintaining a low-carb diet may help increase fertility by a factor of five. Avoid refined carbohydrates present in white bread, cakes, breakfast cereals, etc. By doing so, you lower your levels of testosterone and insulin (hormones that contribute to infertility) and help maintain a healthy weight. Besides, remember to add some fiber to your diet. It helps boost digestion and keeps blood sugar balanced. It also works well if you have fertility-related issues because of estrogen dominance.

2. Monitor your ovulation

Track your ovulation cycle to increase your chances of getting pregnant. The quality of eggs starts deteriorating after 12 to 14 hours, while sperm can survive inside a woman’s body for up to 5 days. Chances of fertilization go up when both are present in your uterus at the same. You can use an app that helps track ovulation to determine when an egg is present.

3. Maintain a healthy weight

Both obesity and emaciation affect conception adversely. Therefore, maintaining a healthy weight is one of the preconditions to increase fertility in women. A BMI between 19 and 24 is conducive to pregnancy; less than 19 puts you in the category of being underweight. A BMI between 25 and 29 places you in the category of being overweight, and greater than 30 means you are obese. It is possible to conceive when overweight or underweight, but the hormonal turmoil affects ovulation and may delay pregnancy. For example, estrogen dominance in obese women tricks their bodies into thinking they are already pregnant, which messes up the ovulation process.

4. Say “no” to alcohol and smoking

Consumption of tobacco and alcohol renders fertility boosters for women ineffective. Women who take seven or more drinks a week or more than three drinks in a single sitting are at the risk of heavy or irregular periods and fertility problems. Alcohol also causes irregular ovulation, which can make conception difficult. Similarly, the chemicals in cigarettes reduce your number of eggs. A female is born with a set number of eggs; there’s no replacement. Moreover, tobacco smoke causes ovulation irregularities that lead to failure in releasing an egg mid-cycle.

5. Make more love to make a baby

Have sex more often! It increases the rate of conception, relieves stress, and increases blood flow to your uterus and ovaries. All these contribute to a favorable environment for pregnancy by keeping the egg and sperm viable longer. Three days preceding ovulation and every one to two days, in general, may help you conceive more readily.