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Wondering if it’s better to have sex before or after your LH surge? We get it. It can be confusing since not all LH surges look the same.
For some, LH increases rapidly. For others, LH rises gradually over several days. When LH peaks, it means ovulation is on its way, and it’s time to get frisky!
The thing is, your LH surge type helps plan when you need to have sex. So if you’re trying to conceive (TTC) and want to know the best time to get busy, read on.
We’ll cover when to have sex after your LH surge, which days offer the best chances of conception, and answer some FAQs on timing sex for ovulation.
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What is an LH surge?
LH is short for luteinizing hormone, a reproductive hormone secreted by your pituitary gland. It’s best known as the hormone that triggers ovulation.
During your follicular phase, a batch of ovarian follicles develops. Each follicle holds an immature egg. Eventually, a dominant follicle takes over. This follicle keeps maturing and prepares for release. The LH surge is what helps the egg break free.
LH stays low throughout most of your menstrual cycle. But about 24-36 hours before ovulation, LH rises rapidly. This is known as an LH surge – and it triggers one of your ovaries to release the egg, so it’s available for fertilization.
LH surge vs. LH peak: What are they?
An LH surge is when your LH levels start rising. As mentioned, LH surges usually happen 24-36 hours before an egg is released.Â
An LH peak is when LH levels reach their highest point. Ovulation usually occurs 8-20 hours after an LH peak.
Learn More: LH Levels & Surges: What’s a ‘Normal’ LH Level Look Like?
When does ovulation occur?
Ovulation happens around 12-14 days before your next period.
Many people assume ovulation day is when you’re most fertile. But that’s not true. The day before ovulation offers the best chances of conception. This is the day LH hits its highest level and you’re at peak fertility.
Why? Well, an egg’s lifespan is only 12-24 hours. However, the sperm can survive in the female reproductive tract for up to 5 days. For the best chance of fertilization, it helps if sperm are on hand when the egg breaks free.
For this reason, your fertile window lasts for 6 days – the 4 days before ovulation, your ovulation day, and the day after ovulation. On these days, you have the best chances of getting pregnant.
Read More:Â When to Have Sex When You Are Trying to Get Pregnant?
What are your chances of conception before and after ovulation?​
As mentioned, you’re most likely to get pregnant by having sex during your LH surge (the day before ovulation). But let’s dive into the research a bit more.
One study used a mobile period tracker to analyze over 225,00 cycles of nearly 99,000 women. Here’s what the data had to say…
As you can see, having sex the day before ovulation offers the best chances of conception at 42%. In contrast, intercourse on the day of ovulation offers a 20% chance of conception.Â
Meaning, you’re less likely to get pregnant on ovulation day compared to the 3 days before ovulation. So while you can get pregnant from sex on ovulation day, your best bet is to have sex before the egg is released.
Read More:Â What Are Your Chances of Getting Pregnant on Ovulation Day?
When should you have sex after your LH surge?​
As soon as possible! Having sex right after your LH surge ensures sperm are ready and waiting when an egg is released.Â
Remember – intercourse on the day before ovulation offers the highest chances of conception. This coincides with your LH surge and your peak fertile day!Â
Here’s what that might look like depending on your LH surge pattern, and why OPKs may miss the mark:
Single LH surge
A single LH surge is when you have a single, sharp rise in LH levels over 24 hours. Single surge patterns are the ones commonly shown on textbook charts.
However, only about 48% of LH surges follow a single surge pattern.
Tracking with OPKs:
If you’re using an OPK, you will get a positive result on a single day.
As you can see in the image below, LH levels surged on cycle day (CD) 15
Tracking with Inito:
Inito measures your actual hormone values and marks your LH surge as Peak Fertility. That way, you can have sex on your peak day to boost your chances of conception.
In the Inito chart, you can see that LH rises on CD 15 a.k.a. your peak fertility day.
When to have sex:Â
As you can see LH peaked on cycle day (CD) 15. So that would be the best day to have sex!
If you use an OPK, you’ll get a positive test on one single day. However, if you use a fertility monitor like Inito, you’ll get a complete picture of all your hormones. This lets you know when your high fertility and peak fertility days are. That way you can have sex on alternate days in your fertile window to maximize your chances of getting pregnant.
Inito also measures your PdG levels. A PdG rise on CD 20 confirms you actually ovulated.
Plateau surges
A plateau surge is when LH rises gradually and stays high for a few days before returning to baseline. Roughly 11% of LH surges follow a plateau pattern.
Tracking with OPKs:
If you use an OPK with a plateau pattern, you’ll get a positive result each day your LH is high.Â
Tracking with Inito:
 Inito allows you to track your LH so you can see your unique surge pattern.
In this plateau pattern, you can see LH started rising on CD 15 and stayed high until CD 16.
When to have sex:
In this case, you’d want to have sex on cycle days 15 and 16 for maximum chances of conception. Ovulation was confirmed by a PdG rise on CD 22.
Biphasic surges
A biphasic surge is when LH spikes twice. Around 33% of LH surges follow this pattern.
Tracking with OPKs: If your LH spikes twice, an OPK will give you a positive result each time your LH rises.
Tracking with Inito:
Inito allows you to track your true LH surge so you can predict ovulation more accurately. In this pattern, LH surged on cycle days 13 and 15.Â
When to have sex:
In this case, since you don’t know which is your true peak, you should ideally have sex after both the LH surges. Ovulation was confirmed after the second LH surge with a PdG rise on CD 20. This indicates that the LH surge on CD 15 was your true peak. Just so you don’t miss your fertile window, it is recommended that you have sex during both the peak days.
Multiple surges​
Multiple surges are when LH spikes more than two times. About 8% of cycles follow a multiple surge pattern.
Tracking with OPKs:
With multiple surges, an OPK will give you a positive result each time LH rises. However, since you don’t track your rise in PdG, you can’t know if you have actually ovulated or not.
Tracking with Inito:Â
Inito measures your actual hormone values, so you can monitor all your LH surges. As you can see, in this pattern, LH surged on cycle days 11, 14, and 16. But the final surge is what triggered ovulation as is confirmed with a PdG rise on CD 22.Â
When to have sex:
In this case, you’d want to get frisky on CD 11, 14, and 16 since you would confirm your true LH surge only with the rise in PdG on CD 22.
Short LH surge​
In all the above cases, you can see a higher LH surge. However, LH levels are not so high in some cases. This gives rise to shorter LH surges.Â
Tracking with OPKs:Â
OPKs rely on average thresholds of about 25-30mIU/ml. This means that they will give you a positive only if your LH levels hit this threshold.
You may miss out on your fertile window if you are using an OPK to track your ovulation in case your LH levels don’t cross the average threshold. The OPK will show you a false negative result each time your LH levels are lower.
As seen in the OPK testing images below, the LH levels are below the average threshold of 25-30 mIU/ml. There are no test lines on the OPK despite an LH rise.Â
Tracking with Inito:
Since Inito tracks your actual hormone values, you can see your different LH patterns despite a low LH surge. Check the LH surges in the Inito charts below with each pattern. And by tracking the rise in PdG, Inito helps confirm that you actually ovulated in each cycle.
When to have sex:
You may want to get cozy with your partner on the days that your LH rose in each type of LH surge pattern.
Choose Inito to identify your fertile window and true LH surge. This helps you plan your intercourse schedule better.
How often should I have sex during peak fertility?​
It doesn’t matter! As long as you’re having sex on your peak fertility day, you have a very good chance of conceiving. Remember, all it takes is only one sperm to get pregnant.Â
Besides peak fertility day, you can aim to have sex every day or every other day during your fertile window to improve your odds. One study found couples who had sex every day during the woman’s fertile window had a 25% chance of conception. Couples who had sex every other day had a 22% chance of conceiving.
Know more:Â Is it Bad to Have Sex Twice a Day During Ovulation?Â
I had sex during my LH surge but didn’t get pregnant. Why?
You may have had an anovulatory cycle. Anovulation simply means that an egg isn’t released for that cycle. Having an anovulatory cycle now and then is totally normal.Â
However, chronic anovulation can make it harder to get pregnant.
Not all LH surges result in ovulation. It’s estimated that a third of all menstrual cycles are anovulatory, meaning ovulation doesn’t occur.
Anovulation is just one of the causes of not getting pregnant. As mentioned above, you could have a multiple LH surge pattern where this LH rise wasn’t your true surge. Or you may be ovulating later in your cycle than you actually thought.Â
The only way to confirm you ovulated is to measure your PdG – a urine metabolite of progesterone. Since progesterone rises after the egg is released, a PdG rise in your luteal phase is proof of ovulation.
If you aren’t getting pregnant despite a rise in PdG after your LH surge, then consult your doctor.
Read More:Â Everything is Normal, Why Can’t I Get Pregnant?Â
Worried that you are alone in this? Read on to learn that there are many others on the same boat.
What does our community have to say? ​
Our Facebook community echoes the findings above. Most Inito users share that they got pregnant by having sex in the days before ovulation.
Takeaways​
- LH increases rapidly about 24-36 hours before an egg is released. This is known as an LH surge.
- LH surge patterns don’t all look the same. Some are single surges, while others follow biphasic, plateau, or multiple surge patterns.
- If you’re TTC, the best time to have sex is during your fertile window. This includes the 4 days before ovulation, your ovulation day, and the day after you ovulate.
- The day before ovulation offers the best chances of conception. This is also the day that LH peaks.
- There are many methods for monitoring your fertile window, including cervical mucus, BBT, the calendar method, follicular scans, OPKs, and fertility monitors like Inito.
- An LH surge is not a guarantee of ovulation. Some cycles are anovulatory, meaning ovulation doesn’t occur.
- Progesterone rises after you ovulate. So a rise in progesterone or PdG confirms ovulation occurred.Â
FAQs
If you’re TTC, most fertility experts say to have sex everyday or every other day during your fertile window. For a deeper dive into timing babymaking sex, check out this article.
You can, but there’s no evidence to show that having sex twice a day will increase your chances of conception. Sex everyday or every other day during your fertile window is the sweet spot. But if you and your partner are feeling frisky, then go for it!
Not at all, but you’ll want to get busy soon. A positive OPK means your LH has surged, and ovulation should occur within the next day or two. So head to the bedroom asap!
The number of tests depends on the irregularity and length of your cycles. For someone with an average cycle length of 30 days, 12-15 tests may be required to track and confirm ovulation.
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