Wanting to have children - what helps to finally get pregnant?

The most important points in brief

• Many women - but also men - or couples despair of an unfulfilled wish for their own offspring.
• In many cases there are reliable medical reasons why women cannot get pregnant.
• In other cases, it may be sufficient to increase fertility with sufficient exercise and a healthy diet.
• Incidentally, this also applies to men, see last paragraph at the bottom.

An unfulfilled desire to have children gnaws at women, at men - and not infrequently also at the couples who often try in vain for many years to have a child. Many couples end up at some point in a fertility clinic or practice, where medical reasons are diagnosed. In this case, only certain clinical interventions will help. If the unfulfilled wish for a child is not based on a medical cause, women and men can work on themselves to fulfill the dream of a little girl or boy.

Often your own lifestyle stands in the way of a pregnancy

You read that correctly: It is not uncommon for one's own lifestyle to be the greatest obstacle to whom to have one's own child. The reasons are the same as for many other diseases and can in principle be reduced to: more exercise, less alcohol, healthier diet, less stress.

All of these are factors that slow down the body, making pregnancy more difficult. A small example illustrates this: When women are pregnant, the well-being of the embryo and later of the fetus is of course completely in focus and there is a lot of attention to things like diet and exercise. But even when trying to get pregnant, these rules are often worth their weight in gold.

What helps to get pregnant?

The minimization of stress is a factor that should not be underestimated, because the body releases adrenaline during periods of stress - and this hormone has a negative effect on the maturation of egg cells. You can take countermeasures with a lot of sleep. Maintaining (or regaining) your normal weight is also helpful; overweight and underweight are at the expense of fertility. A lot of exercise and physical fitness, on the other hand, have a positive effect, but too high an intensity - for example through competitive sports - is more of a hindrance.

Tobacco and alcohol are toxins that inhibit fertility in both sexes. While you should completely refrain from smoking in the fertility phase, there is nothing wrong with an occasional (with an emphasis on "a") glass of wine or beer.

And the diet? A lot of sugar and a lot of fat prevent your fertility, but lots of fruit and vegetables, i.e. plenty of vitamins, are definitely recommended. Seafood also has a positive effect. Folic acid, i.e. folate and vitamins B9 and B11, you should definitely take now, food supplements are also allowed here. The same applies to omega-3 fatty acids and iodine.

Men also have to take care of themselves when they want to have children

Unfortunately, women have to give birth alone and shoulder all the pain that is associated with it. In order to get pregnant, however, you always need a man - or at least one, in whatever way, a fertilized egg cell. Conversely, this means that a fertile man is also required. Fortunately, men can also contribute to the success of having children through their lifestyle, the measures listed in this text should all also be followed by men.

In addition, men can increase the chance of healthy sperm by consuming plenty of selenium, omega-3 fatty acids and zinc and by holding back when consuming soy products, as soy contains a lot of estrogens, which are more of a hindrance in this case.