The average lifespan of a sperm is three days, but some can live up to five days in the appropriate environment. This means that there is a small four to six day window when a woman can become pregnant each cycle. There are several things a couple can do to try to improve their odds of conception. All of the techniques involve helping couples determine when the woman will ovulate. This is when she is most fertile.
Timing is critical for pregnancy to occur.
Terri Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, advocates using a variety of methods, called fertility awareness, to increase your odds of getting pregnant. Among these techniques are using a calendar, charting the woman's temperature, and analyzing the woman's cervical mucus. All of these techniques are easy and inexpensive for a couple to perform. In order to use the calendar method, couples must have been tracking the woman's cycle for a few months to get an idea of how long her cycles generally are. In order to track a woman's cycle, you count how many days there are between periods.