Some women may ask themselves "When am I most fertile" but do you know that The Opinion Research Corporation International (ORC) found that most women don’t know when they can become pregnant? About 98 per cent of women surveyed did not know how many days each month were they more likely to get pregnant. In addition, more than half of the women surveyed (52 per cent) did not know when these fertile days occur during their menstrual cycle. In another survey conducted by the World Congress on Fertility and Sterility, it seems that the reason for 20 per cent of couples that have problems conceiving is because they have failed to time their love making or sexual intercourse to coincide with the period when the woman is most fertile. Hence it is important to know when is a woman most fertile! So when am I fertile?

If you are here, I can only think of two reasons:

1. You are interested to avoid pregnancy and you are trying to look for the period when the woman is least fertile to have sexual intercourse.
2. You are interested to get pregnant and you are trying very hard to conceive and get a baby!

If you are here and you are a man, I presume that you already know how to get a girlfriend, or maybe even better already have a wife, and you are either trying to prevent getting your girlfriend or wife pregnant, or trying to get her very much pregnant!

Well never fear because I hope that after reading this hub of mine you can get a better idea on when is the best time to get pregnant or avoid a pregnancy. Let me first give a short introduction to some basic terms and a short and direct answer on when a woman is most fertile.

To understand when a woman is most fertile, it is important that a woman first understand her menstrual cycle. Ovulation, which is a part of the menstrual cycle, is defined as the release of an egg from a woman’s ovary. Sometimes more than one egg can be released (example one from each ovary, resulting in fraternal twins if both eggs are fertilised). Fertilisation is the process whereby a sperm fuses with an egg.

To get pregnant, conception must first take place and this is when a sperm fertilizes the egg. While sperm can survive for several days (about 48 to 72 hours) inside a woman’s reproductive tract or vagina, an egg can only survive for up to 24 hours after ovulation. This limits the period when conception can occur and hence the period when a woman is most fertile. If you are looking at preventing a pregnancy, it is important that you also take into consideration the period of time when sperm can survive inside the vagina.

Other than using the above method, which is to chart your menstrual cycle using the calendar method, there are other ways to determine when a woman is most fertile. The other methods include analyzing the basal body temperature, looking out for changes that occur in the cervix mucous, having saliva tests done, noticing minor changes in your body such as abdominal pain during ovulation and examining your cervix. With a combination of methods, it would allow you to increase the probability of knowing when you are most fertile, and avoid these periods if you do not want a pregnancy or have more sex during this period to get pregnant!

The most fertile period is the time when a woman has the highest chances of getting pregnant. The simplest way to determine the fertile period when a woman is fertile is by using the calendar method, which is simply charting your own menstrual cycle on a calendar to determine the days when ovulation is most likely to occur. The average menstrual cycle is 28 days. Menstrual cycles vary among woman (from 23 till 35 days) and even from one cycle to the next in the same woman, hence this may be a tricky issue to overcome. Not all women ovulate on day 14; some may ovulate a little earlier and some later, while others just don't ovulate at all. The mensturation period can even come without ovulation and the ability to ovulate can vary from month to month. Hence, study your own menstrual pattern before you start your pregnancy planning!

Day 1 is defined as the first day of menstrual bleeding and the next period usually starts 28 days later. On day 7, the egg or ovum is getting ready for fertilization and from day 7 till day 11, the uterine lining thickens to get ready for the implantation of the fertilized ovum. In the average 28 day menstrual cycle, the ovary releases the ovum and it travels down to the mouth of the fallopian tubes on day 14. If sperm is already present, the ovum is fertilized and implants itself in the uterine lining causing a pregnancy. The ovum has a life span of about 12 to 24 hours while sperm can survive up to 72 hours inside a woman. A woman’s period or menstruation comes when the egg which was released during ovulation has failed to get fertilised. The ovum then breaks down and is shed along with the uterine lining on day 28.

If you are aiming to get pregnant, the couple should have sexual intercourse or make love prior to ovulation or after ovulation. If sperm are already present in the uterus when the woman ovulates, fertilization can possibly occur leading to pregnancy. However, it is not necessary to time sexual intercourse to coincide exactly with the ovulation. From the above, we can see that the most fertile period of a woman is from day 12 to day 15 of the 28 day cycle.

For those who are avoiding pregnancy, you would want to know that the least likely time to conceive is from day 1 to day 7 of the menstrual cycle. If your cycle is not the 28 days cycle, you might want to adjust the calculations. Take note that the egg is ovulated about 14 days before the next period starts, so you cannot just add 14 days to day 1. To illustrate my point, women who have 30 day cycles can expect to ovulate 16 days after the last period, which is 14 days before the next one.

To sum up, you might want to take down the start and end dates of your period to determine the length of your menstrual cycle. From there, do some subtraction to find out the day that ovulation would take place and count the number of days from day 1 after your period ends to find out the day of ovulation. Ovulation takes place about 10 to 14 days after you finish your period.

Using an ovulation calculator will give you an estimate of the day of ovulation. This is similar to the calendar method as described above, just that with advances in technology, there are now interactive ovulation calculating tools, some of which are even available online! Of course even with the invention of such tools, you still need to know the date on which your last period ended and also the number of days in your menstrual cycle. Basically, such online tools make use of the information that I have provided you above, and create a program out of it for women to refer to easily.

Using the Basal Body Temperature or BBT method is based on the fact that during ovulation, a woman’s body temperature increases by 0.5 to 1.6 degrees. It is best to take the BBT first thing in the morning, before doing any activity to get a good temperature reading. It is also recommended to keep daily temperature records for several months to have a more consistent overall picture on when ovulation occurs. Once the ovulation date can be confirmed, as mentioned in my earlier paragraphs, the best time to get pregnant would be a few days before your temperature starts to rise.

The function of the cervical mucus is to protect the woman’s body from sperm, virus, bacteria and other harmful organisms. During ovulation, the mucous in the cervix changes to a clear and stretchy substance. This is unlike normal days when it is pasty and thick. This change is to allow sperm to enter the fallopian tubes. Some women also look at the cervix to determine if they are fertile. If the cervix is open, it would mean that you are fertile whereas it is normally closed when you are not fertile.

Another way to check the fertility of a woman is by using ovulation kits. The ovulation monitor records a woman’s daily fertility level (low, high, peak) based on urine tests that detect increases in levels of estrogen and luteinizing hormone (LH). An increase in the level of estrogen marks the beginning of a woman’s fertility, while an increase in the level of luteinizing hormone (LH) indicates that ovulation will occur soon (usually within 24 to 36 hours).

Such ovulation testing kits are quite useful for women with very irregular menstrual cycles. A popular example of a ovulation monitor would be the clear blue easy ovulation predictor test kits. However, the use of ovulation predictor kits is not very reliable as hormone levels within the body can be affected by factors such as infections or medications. Hence this method requires very careful monitoring and analysis.

This would seem like quite an interesting and new method as I was unaware of this until I did some research into this topic. Do you know your saliva can determine your fertility? When a woman is about to ovulate, her saliva forms a distinct fern-like pattern (this can be seen under an ovulation microscope). This is due to an increase in the level of estrogen present (as mentioned previously an increase in the level of estrogen marks the beginning of a woman’s fertility), which causes an increase in salinity. This salinity in-turn produces a ferning pattern which appears in the saliva about 3 days prior to ovulation. You can thus purchase a personal ovulation microscope to allow you to observe the changes taking place in your saliva throughout your menstrual cycle. When you are about to ovulate, the distinct changes to the saliva would be seen under the ovulation microscope.

Similar to the Basal Body Temperature or method, you are recommended to test your saliva first thing in the morning before eating, drinking or even brushing your teeth as these activities can interfere with the test results. According to research studies, saliva ovulation tests are 98% accurate in clinical settings. Other advantages include that saliva ovulation predictors are re-usable, discreet, and easy-to-use.

Sometimes, a woman can also look out for physical signs that she is ovulating. For example, some women may experience abdominal pain during ovulation. Or sometimes, women may have spotting during their fertile periods. Such small differences to the body may make a difference and allow a woman to identify their fertile period.

As mentioned already, it would be good if you can combine a few methods to determine the period when a woman is most fertile. For example, you can chart out a combination of fertility indicators like cervical secretions and BBT to determine the best times to have sexual intercourse or make love. You also have to be aware that any method of determining your fertile period is only an approximation. There is really no accurate method of pinpointing the exact time and date on which you can conceive.

While one can look at the menstrual cycle to determine when a woman is most fertile, there may be other factors in play that may be affecting your chances of getting pregnant. Of course, this section is only relevant to those who wish to conceive get pregnant and give birth to a baby. If you are interested to avoid pregnancy, I believe the above information would already by sufficient!

You should already know that as you grow older, your body is less able to function at its optimum and one of the changes that happen to your body as you age is that your fertility would drop. This happens to both men and women. For men, the quality and quantity of their sperm drops at a greater rate as they move into their 40s. For women, the chances of becoming pregnant decrease from 20 per cent in women in their 30s to 5 per cent for women in their 40s. This also does not take into consideration menopause in women.

There may also be other health issues that can affect the ability for the woman to conceive. If the woman has previous tubal surgery, history of pelvic inflammation or infection, scar tissue from a previous surgery or either irregular or infrequent menstrual cycles, all these factors may result in problems conceiving. Of course, not all problems reside in the woman. It is side that for health factors, both the man and the woman share equal responsibility if the woman is unable to conceive. For the man, he may have an erectile dysfunction or is just infertile due to low sperm quality or low sperm count.

Oh, and one other point is that if you cannot get pregnant, please do not stress yourself out! Many couples are stressed out because the lady is unable to get pregnant, despite trying very hard to conceive. It is actually more important to stay stress free and relax more as stress has an adverse effect on ovulation. In addition, do remember to stay healthy by eating good nutritious food, exercising regularly, not getting involved with drugs or alcohol and also please do not smoke! Read some good books to help you learn about when you are most fertile, and maybe read some books on planning for that pregnancy and child birth as well. Check out the books which I have listed on this hub too.

Using the other methods, try to be some sexually active during the period which you have determined to be the most fertile. On the other hand, if you are a woman under the age of 35 and you have trying to get pregnant using the above timing methods for a year but you have yet to get pregnant, it is best that you consult a physician to determine the cause of this inability to conceive. If you are a woman over the age of 35, then you should only use these methods for up to six months before seeking medical assistance.

Therefore, I am wishing you all the best and to those who want to get pregnant, good luck in getting that pregnancy! As for those who are avoiding a pregnancy, abstinence is still the best policy! For those who are still looking for a girlfriend, then maybe you should visit this website to get some tips on how to get a girlfriend! When are you most fertile? I hope you know the answer now!