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Fertility Problems - Home Treatment

To decrease your risk of infertility and increase your chances of becoming pregnant, use the following guidelines.

Track ovulation at home

Estimate when you are ovulating by practicing fertility awareness, including:
- Tracking your cervical mucus changes.
- Tracking your basal body temperature on a monthly Fahrenheit temperature chart(What is a PDF document?) or Celsius temperature chart(What is a PDF document?).
- Tracking your luteinizing hormone (LH) levels with a home ovulation predictor test. Many doctors now recommend home ovulation tests as the best method to track ovulation at home.
Try this interactive tool to calculate your peak fertility .
Try having sex every day or every other day during a woman's fertile period. This can improve the chance of pregnancy.
If you exercise strenuously most days of the week, reduce your level of activity. Very strenuous exercise can cause women to ovulate less often.

Protect sperm count and quality

Avoid alcohol, smoking, marijuana, and other illegal drugs. Any one of these may affect fertility.
If you use a vaginal lubricant during sexual intercourse, select one that does not kill or damage sperm.
Stay at a reasonable body mass index (BMI). This will increase the health of your reproductive system. A high BMI has been linked to reduced semen quality and changes in a man's hormones that may reduce fertility.
If you exercise strenuously most days of the week, reduce your level of activity. Very strenuous exercise may be a cause of lower sperm counts in some men.
High scrotal temperatures decrease sperm count and quality⁵, so avoid hot tubs and saunas.
Try to control fever when you are ill. High fever has been known to have an adverse effect on sperm for 2 to 3 months afterward (sperm take this long to grow from germ cells to mature spermatozoa).

General measures

Now more than ever, it's smart to get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet, reduce or stop caffeine intake, and drink plenty of water. Women who are trying to get pregnant should avoid using alcohol and medicines (including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs[NSAIDs], such as ibuprofen or aspirin).

For more information, see the Planning for a Healthy Pregnancy section of the topic Pregnancy.

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Last Updated: April 23, 2010

This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information.