The fertile window is often misunderstood. As the timeline above shows, the most effective time for intercourse is before ovulation, when sperm can survive, mature and be ready to fertilise the egg. The advice most people receive is simple: have sex when you ovulate. However, conception is not about chasing the egg. It depends on preparing the reproductive tract so that sperm are already present, capable, and supported before ovulation occurs. Once the physiology is clear, timing intercourse...

If you are ovulating regularly, tracking your cycle, and timing intercourse carefully, it can feel deeply confusing and upsetting when pregnancy still does not happen. This is one of the most common questions I hear working as a fertility acupuncturist in Hitchin and across Hertfordshire. Ovulation is essential for pregnancy, but it is not the same as fertility. Conception relies on a series of finely timed events that must all line up, cycle after cycle. When one or more of those steps is...

As an acupuncturist specializing in women's menstrual health and fertility, I spend a lot of my time discussing various aspects of...