When you’re trying to conceive, ovulation becomes the most important date in your calendar. It’s ovulation that actually makes you fertile.  You can only get pregnant when sperm can encounter and fertilise an egg that’s been ovulated from the ovaries within the last 24 hours.

Sperm are longer lived than the egg.  Surviving up to five days in a woman’s body. This means its important to identify when you’re going ovulate next.  You then have up to six days of your ‘fertile window’ in which you can try to become pregnant with an enhanced chance of success.

The key questions you need to answer is ‘when will you ovulate?’ and ‘how long do you ovulate for?’ If you can answer these then you can identify your most fertile days.  Then you can consciously target them when you try to conceive, giving you a boosted chance of success!

When Do You Ovulate?

You ovulate at the midpoint of your cycle. The first half is dedicated to preparing for when you ovulate, ensuring the egg is ready and mature, and grows the endometrial lining, laying the foundations for the placenta that will sustain the embryo if that egg is fertilised. The second half develops that lining further so it can begin to nourish an egg if one implants. At the centre is ovulation, approximately halfway into your cycle.

Sadly, it’s not as easy as counting the days in your cycle and then dividing by two. You might have a longer follicular phase (the first stage of your menstrual cycle) or a shorter luteal phase, meaning ovulation isn’t precisely halfway in. Taking a confirmatory test like an OPK or tracking your basal body temperature can help get you more reliable information.  So you can pinpoint when you ovulate.

How Long is Ovulation?

‘Ovulation’ is when a fertile egg is released from the ovaries.  But it’s also used to mean the time during which that egg is viable and in your system to be fertilised. In this meaning of the word, for most people ovulation lasts a maximum of 24 hours.  Basically from when the egg is released to when it ceases to be viable.

Fortunately the longer lifespan of sperm means that you are fertile for longer than your ovulation period lasts.Concentrating on this fertile window boosts your chances of getting pregnant.  Plus hands control over your fertility back to you and your partner.