What’s The Best Season To Conceive? Research Spills The Beans

What’s The Best Season To Conceive? Research Spills The Beans

19 May 2022 | 4 min Read

Sayani Basu

Author | 607 Articles

There’s a plethora of factors at play when you are trying to conceive – such as your health, your partner’s health, the fertility count, stress-level and even genetics. But did you know that seasons are important factors too? Yes, you are reading that right! But what is the best season to conceive a baby?

Although the best season to conceive seems like a mystical correlation, research has shown that babies conceived at certain times of the year are healthier than those conceived during other times. Scientists have conducted several studies to venture more into this field.

Research Spills The Beans On The Best Season To Conceive

In the early 1930s, researchers noticed that babies born in winter were more prone to health problems later in life including slower growth, mental illness, and even early death. This was mainly because of diseases, harsh temperatures, and higher pollution levels associated with winter.

Another research suggested that May is the most unfavorable time to conceive. This research highlighted that women conceiving in the month of May (delivering their babies in winter) gave birth to premature babies, and their gestation time was almost a week below the average.

In terms of birth weight, this study found that summer was the best time to conceive. The team also found that women who conceived from June to August gained more weight during their pregnancies and gave birth to babies who were, on average, about 8 grams heavier than in other months.

A survey was conducted on 14,331 parents to observe the reason for the seasonal spike in birth rates. The participants were tracked on a number of factors including the frequency of intercourse, menstrual cycles, ovulation, age, and lifestyle factors such as their diet, smoking habits, education and income levels.

It was observed that there was a stark decline in the conceiving rate around the spring and fall season.

Cold weather can make couples spend more time indoors and is perhaps the best season to conceive. | Image Source: freepik

A 2018 study found that winters are the best time to conceive as cold weather can make couples spend more time indoors. It is also said that sperm quality is comparatively better in winters. This makes the process a little easier.

The study also found that sperm concentration and the percentage of fast motility in men tends to decrease from spring to summer. Whereas, the percentage of sperm is also higher in the winter season.

They manage to produce 70 million sperm per millimetre of semen. Plus, around five percent of them have fast swimming speed which is ideal for conception.

According to statistics, babies planned in the winters also have a higher survival rate.

Some feel that pregnancy in the winter months is easier to carry through compared to the high-temperature months.

Activities like yoga and meditation can boost your fertility by soothing your mind and keeping you active. | Image Source: freepik

Key Takeaways

Although studies and research are ongoing regarding what’s the best season to conceive, studies say winter is the best season to conceive as compared to summer when there’s scorching heat that might make the expecting mum uncomfortable adding on to those pregnancy morning sickness days.

A baby’s health might be affected by the date of conception, time and year of pregnancy, diet and other related physiological factors. For example recently, economists looked at demographics, and found that mothers who are non-white and lack a college education are more likely to have babies in the first half of the year. However, it is important to understand that conceiving requires more efforts than just having sex at the right time.

To boost your fertility, you can have a healthy diet, maintain a healthy body weight, and take up activities like yoga and meditation which can soothe your mind and keep you active, keeping stress and anxiety at bay.

A

gallery
send-btn

Suggestions offered by doctors on BabyChakra are of advisory nature i.e., for educational and informational purposes only. Content posted on, created for, or compiled by BabyChakra is not intended or designed to replace your doctor's independent judgment about any symptom, condition, or the appropriateness or risks of a procedure or treatment for a given person.