When making the immensely important decision to try to conceive, you’ll likely run into a lot of information on the internet telling you ways in which you can help your body prepare. But what’s true and what’s myth? What are realistic ways you can increase your chances of pregnancy, without going to extremes? Let’s go over the physical, psychological, and emotional things you can incorporate into your life.

Stop Using Birth Control

In terms of the physical things to do, you’ll want to start with the most basic -  getting off whatever form of contraceptive you may be on! While you can get pregnant right away, it often can take several months for your body to adjust to the changes in your hormones - be patient!

Take Prenatal Vitamins & Folic Acid

Another easy thing to do is to start taking a multivitamin. While prenatal vitamins are typically associated with people who are already pregnant, a little known fact is that taking them when trying to conceive not only helps the process, but also helps you avoid any nutritional deficiencies during early pregnancy. An added bonus - you’ll have time to try out a few brands to see what works for your body.

In addition to a prenatal vitamin, you’ll also want to add folic acid into your life, which can help prevent neural tube defects during early pregnancy. Be sure you’re taking at least 400 to 800 micrograms a day.

Eat Healthy and Exercise

Diet and exercise can be extremely effective during this time as well - aim to get 30 minutes of exercise a day, and prioritize organic fruits and vegetables, if you’re able. While there’s no science that any one food particularly boosts fertility, the body is best to receive conception when it is overflowing with nutrients, vitamins and minerals, as the baby can take from the overflows and leave the reserves for moms to thrive on. Try eating dark-green leafy vegetables, chickpeas, lentils, black-eyed peas and other legumes, low mercury fish, lean beef and other proteins, flax, chia, and other seeds.

Track Your Cycle

Let’s talk about timing– you are most likely to conceive if you have sex within a day of ovulation, which is usually about 14 days after the first day of your last period. Once released, an egg lives for about 12 to 24 hours after it is released. To become pregnant, the egg must be fertilized within this time. As sperm can live for up to seven days inside a woman’s body, if you’ve had sex in the seven days before ovulation, the sperm can have had time to travel up the fallopian tubes to wait for the egg to be released.

Prioritize Mental and Emotional Health

Getting pregnant not only requires physical health, it also requires mental health – mind, body and spirit health is so important when trying to conceive, and should be just as high a priority as physical health. In terms of the psychological and emotional things you should be aware of, let’s start with stress.

While there’s only so much we can do in our everyday lives to avoid stressful situations, we do have control over how we deal with it and how we process it. When you’re stressed, your sympathetic nervous system—which is activated when you’re in fight-or-flight mode—stays constantly active and your blood pressure runs high, which can lead to hypertension and blood flow being diverted away from the reproductive organs. Because of this, you’ll want to be prioritizing your sleep, practicing calming and deep breaths, meditation, exercising, finding an outlet to confide your feelings in, and more.

Preparing yourself emotionally in order to help conceive is a critical component in not only getting pregnant, but also being the best parent you can be. Try to stay patient, optimistic, and overall, hopeful for what’s to come.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the journey to conceive requires a holistic approach that takes into account physical, psychological, and emotional aspects. Transitioning off contraceptives, incorporating prenatal vitamins with folic acid, maintaining a balanced diet, and regular exercise can optimize fertility. Tracking ovulation will help optimize timing, and prioritizing mental and emotional well-being through stress management techniques can further support the process. Remember, conceiving is not solely about physical readiness but also about cultivating a positive mindset and emotional resilience, laying the foundation for a healthy pregnancy and parenting journey ahead.