Fertility

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Getting pregnant can be an exciting time. For some, getting pregnant seems to happen simply by talking about it. For others, getting pregnant takes patience and perhaps a bit of luck.

Understanding when you're most fertile can make getting pregnant easier. It's also important to consider simple do's and don'ts of conception. For example, maintain a healthy weight and have sex regularly — especially near the time of ovulation. Don't smoke or drink alcohol. Of course, healthy sperm counts, too.

With frequent unprotected sex, most healthy couples conceive within one year. If you have trouble getting pregnant, don't go it alone. A fertility specialist or other health care provider might be able to help. Infertility affects men and women equally — and treatment is available.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free, and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID-19, plus expertise on managing health.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Oct. 12, 2021

See also

  1. Birth control pill FAQ
  2. Can birth control pills cause birth defects?
  3. Ovulation
  4. Elective abortion and subsequent pregnancies
  5. Pregnancy spacing
  6. Female fertility tips
  7. Fertility preservation
  8. Healthy sperm: Improving your fertility
  9. High-risk pregnancy
  10. Home pregnancy tests: Can you trust the results?
  11. How to get pregnant
  12. Is a home sperm test useful?
  13. Ovulation signs
  14. Pregnancy after 35
  15. Pregnancy after miscarriage
  16. Pregnancy due date calculator
  17. Secondary infertility
  18. Sperm life span
  19. Symptoms of pregnancy