Ovulation signs aren’t difficult to track, once you know what to look for. Some signs of ovulation can be noted before ovulation takes place (helping you time sex for pregnancy), while other ovulation signs come after the fact.

When you’re trying to get pregnant, tracking ovulation and timing sex for pregnancy can become a bit of an obsession. You’ve probably discovered at least one method of tracking ovulation, but is it the best one for you to use? Are you happy with what you know?

In this article, you’ll learn 7 different signs of ovulation. I give you a run down of their pros and cons, so you can decide if it’s worth looking into. (But I don’t suggest using them all! You’ll drive yourself nuts.)

In The Forums: Take Our Poll!

In the fertility forums this week, I’ve got a new poll that I’d love for you to vote on. In conversation with one of our forum members, the question of how frequently a couple should have sex if they want to get pregnant came up.

And so, inspired by that conversation, the poll question is… how often do you have sex? Please come vote, and leave a comment, too, if you like. We’d all love to hear your thoughts.

There’s an interesting article at MSNBC.com, courtesy of Women’s Health Magazine, on protecting fertility: Not Ready for Baby? Protect Your Fertility. I’m all for information on protecting fertility – great idea. However, as unfortunately is common in the media, the article misrepresents a few vital points.

One of the mistakes in the article is the information on male infertility, in the sidebar, where it states that one-third of infertility cases involve male fertility problems. Yes, one-third of cases are solely the man’s problem, but another third involve both the man and woman. It’d be far more accurate to say that up to 50 – 60% of infertile couples include problems with the man.

The advice on protecting male fertility is also less than ideal. (Wearing boxers is a better idea, but the majority of male infertility cases are not caused by tighty-whiteys). But what I’d like to focus on in this blog post is the advice given for women on protecting fertility.

Healthy Fats – Protect Your Fertility?

One of the tips offered is to eat more healthy fats, like avocado and olive oil. I love avocado and olive oil, and I’m all for encouraging people to enjoy these yummy treats. But they aren’t going to extend your biological clock, or cure infertility. (I should know. If that were true, I’d be pregnant long ago. I’m an avocado addict.)

The original study referenced looked at normal women (not women with fertility problems or women over 35 in particular), and found a link between those who ate more of these healthy fats in their diets and less risk for ovulatory fertility problems, when compared to women who ate more unhealthy trans fats. But a link is not the same as a cause. It could be that good fats protect fertility. Or, it could be that the trans fats harmed the other women’s fertility. Or, yet another possibility, it could be that the lifestyle habits of women eating the good fats led to better fertility.

Extreme dieting, as well as the opposite problem of obesity, has been linked to fertility issues. Maybe women who ate healthy fats were less likely to be extreme dieters (eschewing all fats, even good ones), or, maybe, women in the study eating less healthy diets happened to be overweight because of poor diet choices. It may have nothing to do with the healthy fats.

Stress and Infertility

Which brings me to the next problem I have with this article – the remark on stress and fertility. Yes, stress can throw off your period, but infertility is not caused by stress in the large majority of cases. The expert in the article, Dr. Sarah L. Berga, researched a very specific group of women (just 8 women in the entire study, actually), who lacked menstruation because of hypothalamic dysfunction.

Hypothalamic dysfunction related infertility is usually the result of women who are anorexic, extreme dieters, and/or extreme exercisers. That has nothing to do with general stress at work, nor does it have to do with the majority of women trying to get pregnant. It also has little to do with fertility over age 35.

Much better advice would have been to tell women not to go crazy with dieting and over exercising. By all means, lower the stress in your life. I’m all for counseling when it comes to coping with infertility (and stress). But neither mediation nor therapy will stop your biological clock.

Freezing Eggs and Vitrification

My last beef with this article is the suggestion to freeze your eggs as a means of protecting fertility. Vitrification, an exciting new method of freezing eggs, is a hopeful option for women with cancer who want a chance at protecting their fertility before going through cancer treatments. However, for the average woman, this isn’t a practical plan.

First of all, the article says that the cost of the procedure is up to $6,000. But that’s just for the egg removal and freezing. Later on, you’d need IVF – that’s going to cost you another $6,000, at least. Not to mention that you may need more than one IVF procedure, that your chances of pregnancy from any IVF treatment are far from guaranteed, and that long term studies of vitrification have not been completed.



The bottom line? While science is trying, no one has found a way to stop a woman’s biological clock. Yes, women shouldn’t smoke if they want to protect their fertility, and they should take care of their reproductive and general health. They should eat healthy (good fats included), and they should lessen stress in their lives.

But even if you do all this, you’re not guaranteeing fertility. Getting pregnant after 35 is not as easy as it was in your 20s, no matter how much avocado you eat, or how calm you feel. Sorry. I only wish it were that easy.

<sub>Sources:

Berga S.L., Loucks T.L. “Use of cognitive behavior therapy for functional hypothalamic amenorrhea.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Dec 2006; 1092:114-29.

Chavarro J.E,, Rich-Edwards J.W., Rosner B.A., Willett W.C. “Dietary fatty acid intakes and the risk of ovulatory infertility.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Jan. 2007 ;85(1):231-7.</sub>