There are now 117 million Filipinos on the planet…with many on the way.
Because getting pregnant is as easy as 1-2-3, right?
It happens naturally, and the body is designed to procreate.
So it’s best to simply let nature take its course?
Well, not all couples have it so easy. Owing to individual differences, many couples find it hard to see two red lines and can use all the help that they can get.
In this post, we’ll look at 4 lifestyle changes that give couples the best odds for success.
Often, many are surprised by how strongly everyday habits influence reproductive health. Small shifts in routines can support overall fertility, and we’re going to look at 4 of the most important ones.
1. Optimize Your Nutritional Intake
What you eat influences how smoothly your hormones work. And hormones like LH, FSH, estrogen, and progesterone all play major roles in ovulation.
You don’t need a strict diet. You need small adjustments that you can consistently repeat without feeling miserable.
A good place to start is with your blood sugar level. Try to steady it during the day and avoid wild sugar spikes and drops. Because when the blood sugar swings too much, hormones can mirror the chaos.
One thing you can do is to replace a sugary snack with something that gives steady energy. For example, instead of a pastry or sweet drink in the afternoon, try a small bowl of oats with slices of fruit like banana or apple. These feel satisfying, while keeping your blood sugar level on an even keel.
Another helpful habit is adding a folate-rich food to at least one meal daily. Folate supports a successful pregnancy, helping prevent serious complications. Women are advised to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily at least three months before conception and continuing through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
While you can take folic acid supplements, you can also find it in green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, citrus fruits, and fortified grains. So a serving of malunggay, kangkong, or monggo for lunch can work wonders for your hunger.
Proteins help regulate hormones and keep your body humming along. So eat protein-rich items like eggs, fish, chicken, beef, milk, and cheese.
These keep you full longer and reduce mid-morning cravings, which also helps avoid the blood sugar rollercoaster.
The point here is to build a handful of repeatable habits that gently move your body toward better hormone balance. Small changes help far more than intense rules that don’t last.
2. Avoid Exposure to Everyday Toxins
This includes alcohol and cigarettes, by the way. Smoking affects fertility more strongly than many people realize. The chemicals in cigarettes can interfere with egg quality, shorten cycles, and reduce the likelihood of successful implantation.
And when pregnant, even second-hand smoke can impact the pregnancy and negatively affect the baby’s birth weight. According to the Philippine Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, “No level of SHS exposure is safe. Due to the potential harmful effects to the mother and her unborn child…”
Alcohol, for its part, can negatively affect conception by disrupting the menstrual cycle and ovulation. The hormonal imbalances it can cause lead to irregular periods, even to amenorrhea (absence of a period), decreasing the chances for conception.
An assortment of toxins can enter the body through many different ways.
Lotions, makeup, deodorant, and hair products with strong chemical ingredients can directly affect reproductive hormones and their function. For example, formaldehyde found in some hair products and nail polishes can increase the fertility issues and miscarriage. Triclosan, found in cosmetics, soaps, toothpastes, and lotions, can lead to negative birth outcomes like reduced birth weight.The safest route for would-be mothers is to opt for products that are least industrially processed and have the least artificial chemicals as possible.
Mothers-to-be should also be careful when microwaving plastic containers that weren’t meant for the job, as these could leech unwanted plastic chemicals into the meal.
Lastly, always wash fruits and vegetables carefully. There could be residues of used pesticides still on the produce.
3. Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep Quality
At age 38, Regina is more than ready to get pregnant.
She’s a high-power attorney rapidly ascending the ranks of her legal profession.
Court dates, client calls, and filing deadlines stack so tightly that even lunch becomes a luxury. She might spend the morning arguing a motion, the afternoon negotiating a settlement, and the evening combing through documents that can’t wait until tomorrow.
Each day feels like a chain of problems that arrive faster than they can be solved.
Regina’s situation would not be ideal for getting pregnant.
When you’re stressed, your body produces more cortisol and adrenaline. These are not “bad” hormones (they’re helpful in short bursts), but when they stay high for long periods, they can interfere with signals from the brain that regulate the menstrual cycle.
This can delay or even block ovulation.
If ovulation becomes unpredictable, timing intercourse becomes much harder.
Some women notice their periods come late when they’re overwhelmed. Others get them earlier than expected. Stress can disrupt the rhythm of the cycle, making it difficult to know when the fertile window is happening.
Also, stress can prevent a good night’s sleep, throwing off the normal functioning of hormones like melatonin and leptin, which play supporting roles in ovulation.
Finally, high stress levels often lower sexual desire. In some couples, this reduces how often intercourse happens during the days when it matters most.
So what can women like Regina do?
Well, one can’t remove every stressful thing from life, but you can manage stress much better and stop it from running the whole show:
Set a fixed bedtime and wake time
A consistent sleep schedule reduces irritability and supports reproductive health. Even a 30-minute improvement in sleep quality often reduces anxiety.
Build a “quiet start” routine in the morning
Five minutes of stretching, slow breathing, or sipping tea without screens gives your body a calmer baseline before the day speeds up.
Practice the 3-minute reset during stressful moments
Sit, close your eyes, and inhale for four seconds, exhale for six. Three minutes is short enough to do between tasks but long enough to break tension spikes.
Simplify one part of daily life
Examples: prepping snacks for the week or reducing social obligations. Small forms of order reduce mental overload.
Protect one weekly activity that brings calm
A massage, a quiet walk, a hobby, or reading for pleasure. The goal is to create something predictable that signals the body it’s safe to slow down.
Reduce exposure to stressful media
Turning off news alerts and social media during evenings helps the nervous system settle before bed.
4. Track & Time
The first 3 lifestyle changes mentioned earlier help women have a more regular reproductive cycle.
We want this so couples can track it and know when conception is at its peak.
This isn’t turning your life into a spreadsheet. It’s about removing guesswork and sparing couples months of frustration.
There is a “fertile window” when a woman can get pregnant. This depends on the length of the menstrual cycle and slightly varies from woman to woman.
“Ovulation” is when the ovary releases an egg. This day (ovulation) and the 3-5 days before that is the “fertile window” where there’s the highest chance for conception.
Sperm can last around 5 days in ideal conditions. So if intercourse happens 3–5 days before the egg is released, the sperm are already in place to fertilize the egg.
That timing is why most pregnancies happen from intercourse that happened before ovulation, not after.
But how do you know you’re ovulating?
There are many ways to track:
A straightforward place to begin is a cycle-tracking app and ovulation calculators that log period dates and symptoms. After two or three months, you’ll usually see a pattern in cycle length. This helps you identify the likely window when ovulation occurs.
You can also do Basal Body Temperature (BBT) tracking. Take your temperature first thing in the morning before getting out of bed and record it in an app. A small rise, usually about 0.2–0.4°C, signals that ovulation just happened. While this tells you the fertile window has already passed, it helps you predict timing in future cycles.
Another option is to pay attention to cervical mucus changes. When it becomes clearer and more stretchy, this indicates that ovulation is approaching. Couples who time intercourse during this phase typically improve their chances of conception without adding any medical interventions.
Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) offer yet another layer of clarity. These tests for a surge in luteinizing hormone (LH), which usually happens 24–36 hours before ovulation. If you prefer something very straightforward, using OPKs every morning during the middle of your cycle provides a simple indicator for when to try.
When you understand your body’s signals, you can plan intercourse during the days when it matters most…without turning the process into a chore.
These habits give couples a strong starting point, but they’re only part of the bigger picture. Sometimes your body needs a closer look. This is where having a reliable partner makes a real difference.
BloodWorks Lab offers tests that help you understand what’s happening inside your body, so your efforts are supported by clear information rather than guesswork. We specialize in repro-immunological blood tests and are your able partners in your reproductive journey.
Book your appointment today.
Our branches are in Alabang, Katipunan, and Cebu.