Tips to Improve Fertility

Understanding Fertility: How It Actually Works

What "Fertility" Actually Means

Fertility is your body's biological capacity to conceive and carry a pregnancy. For it to happen, several things have to line up within the same cycle: a mature egg has to be released, sperm has to reach it within a narrow window, and the fertilized egg has to implant successfully in the uterus. "Improving fertility," in practice, mostly means removing whatever obstacles you reasonably can from that process.

Ovulation Is the Event Everything Else Depends On

Almost every tip in this guide connects back to ovulation, the point in your cycle when an ovary releases a mature egg. In a typical 28-day cycle, this happens around day 14, though anywhere from day 11 to day 21 is considered normal. Once released, an egg survives for only about 12 to 24 hours, which is a big part of why timing matters so much. If you want a deeper walkthrough of the math behind this, our guide on how to calculate ovulation covers it step by step.

Why "Boosting" Fertility Has Real Limits

It's worth being upfront about this: age is the single biggest factor in fertility, and no diet or supplement reverses it. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine notes that while healthy habits support overall reproductive health, they don't offset the natural, age-related decline in egg quantity and quality (ASRM). The tips ahead genuinely help at the margins, especially if something like smoking, being significantly underweight, or chronic stress is working against you, but they aren't a substitute for medical care if you're facing a specific fertility challenge.

How to Know You're Ovulating

Before you can time anything around ovulation, it helps to recognize what it actually feels and looks like — and what it looks like when it isn't happening.

Common Signs You're Ovulating

Not everyone notices physical signs of ovulation, and that's completely normal. For those who do, these are the ones most consistently described by Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic:

• Cervical mucus that turns clear, stretchy, and slippery, often compared to raw egg white
• A mild, one-sided pelvic twinge or ache, sometimes called ovulation pain
• A small dip in basal body temperature followed by a slight rise
• Breast tenderness
• Mild bloating
• Light spotting or slightly increased discharge
• For many people, a noticeable rise in sex drive around the middle of the cycle

(Cleveland Clinic) Cervical mucus tends to be the most reliable of these on its own, since it changes in a fairly predictable pattern across the month.

How to Confirm Ovulation Actually Happened

No home method offers complete certainty. A sustained rise in basal body temperature that holds for roughly the second half of your cycle is the most accessible sign, but it only confirms ovulation after the fact rather than predicting it in advance. An ovulation predictor kit that detects the LH surge is more direct, though occasional false positives happen. For definite confirmation, a doctor can check a mid-cycle progesterone level or use ultrasound to track a developing follicle. Combining two or three signs, rather than relying on just one, is the most reliable approach available without a clinic visit.

Signs You Might Not Be Ovulating

Anovulation, cycles where no egg is released, most often shows up as a change in your period pattern rather than one obvious symptom. Periods that are unusually far apart, unusually light, or missing for a few months in a row are the clearest signs (Cleveland Clinic). If you notice this pattern, it's worth a conversation with a doctor rather than trying to self-diagnose, since common, treatable causes like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or a thyroid imbalance are often behind it. Our guide to signs of an irregular menstrual cycle goes deeper into what's worth flagging.

Nutrition Tips to Improve Fertility

What the Research Actually Supports

It's tempting to look for one "fertility superfood," but the evidence doesn't point to a single ingredient. A 2022 committee opinion from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine found little strong evidence that any specific diet meaningfully improves natural fertility in people who are already ovulating regularly (ASRM). What the research supports more consistently is the bigger picture: fertility is measurably lower in people who are significantly underweight or who have obesity — in both directions, not just one.

Some observational research, including the long-running Nurses' Health Study, found that a diet higher in plant-based protein, healthy unsaturated fats, low-glycemic carbohydrates, and iron from plants or supplements was associated with a lower risk of ovulation-related infertility. Studies like this can't prove cause and effect, but the overall pattern lines up with general healthy-eating advice: more vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats; less ultra-processed food and added sugar.

Is There a "Best Fruit" for Fertility?

Not really, at least not one proven in research. Antioxidant-rich fruits like berries, citrus, and pomegranate fit comfortably into a fertility-friendly diet, since antioxidants help offset oxidative stress, a process linked to cellular aging, including in eggs. But no single fruit has been shown to meaningfully change your odds of conceiving, so it's more useful to think in terms of a varied diet than one ingredient to chase.

What to Drink (and What to Limit)

There's no special drink that speeds up conception. Water covers most of what your body actually needs. If you rely on caffeine, research suggests high intake — more than roughly five cups of coffee a day — is linked to reduced fertility, while one to two cups a day hasn't shown a clear negative effect (ASRM). Alcohol follows a similar pattern: heavier drinking is probably worth cutting back on while trying to conceive, and it's worth stopping entirely once you're pregnant, since no amount of alcohol has been shown safe during pregnancy.

Supplements and Nutrients Worth Knowing About

Folic Acid: The One With the Strongest Evidence

If you take away one supplement recommendation from this guide, make it this one. The CDC recommends that all women who could become pregnant get 400 micrograms of folic acid every day, ideally starting at least a month before conception, to lower the risk of neural tube defects in a future pregnancy (CDC). Since roughly half of pregnancies in the US are unplanned, many doctors recommend this for any woman of reproductive age who isn't actively avoiding pregnancy, not only people who are actively trying to conceive.

CoQ10 and Other Antioxidants: What the Evidence Shows So Far

CoQ10 has become a popular fertility supplement, and the underlying idea is reasonable: it's an antioxidant involved in how cells produce energy, and egg cells rely heavily on that system as they mature. Small studies, mostly done in fertility clinic settings, have found that CoQ10 may improve certain markers of egg quality in women over 35 or with a lower egg reserve. The evidence is still early, though — it hasn't been studied nearly as thoroughly for natural conception outside of IVF, and it isn't part of standard fertility guidelines yet. If you're considering it, talk to a doctor first, since it can interact with some medications, including blood thinners.

A Word on Supplements in General

Beyond folic acid, there isn't strong evidence that any specific supplement reliably boosts fertility in someone who's already ovulating regularly and eating a reasonably balanced diet. A standard prenatal vitamin is a low-risk way to cover common gaps like iron and vitamin D. Beyond that, more isn't automatically better — some vitamins can cause harm in excess — so it's worth mentioning anything you're taking or considering to a doctor, especially once you're actively trying to conceive.

Lifestyle Habits That Support Fertility

Day-to-day habits won't override your age or an underlying medical condition, but they genuinely add up, and several are well enough supported to prioritize.

Weight, Movement, and Sleep

Reaching and maintaining a weight that's healthy for your body matters more than any specific food, since fertility is measurably lower at both extremes, not just with excess weight. Regular, moderate movement supports that goal, though very intense daily training can sometimes disrupt ovulation, so more isn't automatically better here either. Sleep matters too: it affects the same hormonal signals that regulate your cycle, so protecting a consistent sleep schedule is a reasonable, low-effort habit to build.

Managing Stress Without Adding More Pressure

Stress and fertility have a complicated relationship. Chronic stress can interfere with the hormonal signals that trigger ovulation, but the pressure to "just relax" is rarely helpful advice on its own. Fertility researchers note that the stress of trying to conceive itself, especially when tied to strict tracking schedules, can reduce intimacy and satisfaction for some couples (ASRM). If tracking your cycle starts to feel like a source of anxiety rather than useful information, it's okay to loosen your approach for a cycle or two.

• Reach and maintain a weight that's healthy for your body
• Move regularly, but skip extremes — very intense daily training can disrupt ovulation
• Protect a consistent sleep schedule
• Build in real stress management — therapy, exercise, time outdoors, or simply protected downtime
• Don't smoke, and limit regular secondhand smoke exposure
• Keep alcohol light to moderate, and stop entirely once you're pregnant
• Take a daily folic acid or prenatal supplement if there's any chance you could conceive

Habits That Can Hurt Your Fertility

Just as some habits help, a few are consistently linked to lower fertility in research. None of these guarantee a problem on their own, but each is worth addressing if you're actively trying to conceive.

• Smoking, which is linked to a meaningfully higher risk of infertility and may speed up egg loss
• Heavy alcohol use, generally more than one to two drinks a day
• Very high caffeine intake, more than roughly five cups of coffee a day
• Chronic, unaddressed stress
• Extreme calorie restriction or over-exercising
• Being significantly underweight or living with untreated obesity
• Cannabis and other recreational drug use while trying to conceive
• Skipping folic acid, especially in the weeks before you start trying

Timing: Finding Your Most Fertile Days

If you're hoping to conceive this month, timing is the single most controllable factor left once the basics — nutrition, supplements, healthy habits — are already in place.

What Is the Fertile Window?

Your fertile window is the stretch of your cycle when sex can actually result in pregnancy. It spans about six days: the five days leading up to ovulation, plus the day of ovulation itself (ACOG). That's wider than most people expect, and it exists because sperm can survive inside the body for three to five days, waiting for an egg to be released. Our guide to the fertility window breaks this down in more detail.

What Days Are You Most Fertile?

Within that six-day window, some days matter more than others. Research consistently points to the two to three days right before ovulation, plus the day of ovulation itself, as the highest-probability window (Mayo Clinic). If you already know roughly when you ovulate — from tracking cycle length, cervical mucus, or an ovulation test — that's the stretch worth prioritizing if daily intercourse isn't realistic. 100 Calculator's Period & Fertility Tracker can estimate this window for you once you enter your last period and average cycle length.

How Often Should You Have Sex?

Guidance from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine points to sex every one to two days during the fertile window as ideal, though every two to three days produces nearly the same results (ASRM). There's no need to limit frequency out of concern for sperm count — in men with normal semen quality, daily ejaculation doesn't lower sperm counts, which is a persistent myth. What tends to matter more than any exact schedule is simply not skipping the fertile window entirely. Our guide to the best time to conceive walks through how to plan around it.

Fertility by Age: What Changes in Your 20s, 30s, and 40s

Age affects fertility more than any single habit on this list, mostly because of how egg supply naturally declines over time. Understanding the general pattern helps put the rest of this guide in context.

You're born with all the eggs you'll ever have, roughly 1 to 2 million at birth (ASRM). That number drops sharply over time: by around age 30, an estimated 88% of a woman's original egg supply is already gone, close to the commonly cited "90%" figure, and by 40, only about 3% remains, according to widely referenced research on ovarian reserve. This doesn't mean pregnancy is unlikely at 30 — most 30-year-olds are still quite fertile — but it explains why the decline speeds up earlier than many people expect.

Fertility Myths vs. Facts

A lot of fertility advice circulates without much evidence behind it. Here's where a few common claims actually stand:

When to See a Doctor About Fertility

Most people don't need to see a fertility specialist right away, but there are clear guidelines for when it's worth moving up that timeline. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends a fertility evaluation after 12 months of regular, unprotected intercourse for women 35 or younger, after 6 months for women between 36 and 40, and right away for women over 40 (ACOG).

Signs Worth a Conversation With a Doctor Sooner

• Periods that are absent, extremely irregular, or unusually far apart
• A history of PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid problems, or previous pelvic surgery
• Two or more miscarriages
• Known fertility concerns in your partner
• Pain during sex, or pelvic pain outside of your period

If PCOS is part of the picture, our guide on calorie deficit explained and 100 Calculator's Calorie Deficit Calculator for PCOS can help you and your doctor build a nutrition plan that supports more regular ovulation.

Building a Fertility-Friendly Routine That Sticks

Pulling this into a simple plan makes it easier to actually follow through:

1. Track your cycle for two to three months before making other changes, so you know your baseline. 100 Calculator's Period & Fertility Tracker can help estimate your fertile window as you go.
2. Start a daily folic acid or prenatal supplement now, not after a positive test.
3. Address the highest-impact habits first — smoking, heavy drinking, very high caffeine intake — rather than trying to fix everything at once.
4. Time intercourse around your fertile window, aiming for every one to two days rather than a single "perfect" day.
5. Revisit the calendar. If you're under 35 and it's been 12 months, or 35 or older and it's been 6 months, it's a reasonable time to book an appointment.
6. Be patient with the process. Most healthy couples conceive within a year of trying, and a single "off" cycle rarely means anything is wrong.

And once you do see that positive test, 100 Calculator's Pregnancy Due Date Calculator is a natural next stop to estimate your due date and start planning ahead.

More From Women's Health Guides

Still building your knowledge of cycles, ovulation, and conception? These related guides dig deeper into the topics covered above.

Frequently Asked Questions