“There could be potential situations where fertility cycles or conception cycles would be more likely to occur during sex in the morning, in a very small subset of patients,” says Daniel Kort, M.D., an OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist at Neway Fertility. There are a number of less tangible reasons why morning sex might help some couples conceive and why it may be the best time to get pregnant. On a basic level, mixing up what time you have sex can increase the novelty and make them more likely to try again and again. It helps that most people are more well-rested in the morning than in the evening. More scientifically speaking, studies suggest most men’s sex hormones are at their highest first thing in the morning, Kort says. One fascinating advantage of morning sex is that it may help couples get pregnant even when the ovulation window is relatively short. Sperm generally fertilizes an egg within 72 hours of sex, taking advantage of a broad ovulation window. But when that window is shorter than 72 hours, trying to conceive in the morning has the chance of catching the tail end of a window that might otherwise close before bedtime. “In those cases, it could potentially benefit those men having morning sex, just from a timing perspective, to time it around the time of ovulation,” Kort explains. “Certain women will ovulate closer to the morning and, for them, it might help.” Still, despite the rise of highly accurate ovulation and sperm viability tests, it’s not currently possible for doctors to take a look at a sperm count and a menstrual cycle and declare morning sex the cure to a couple’s infertility. Instead, doctors like Kort are likely to simply recommend that couples vary the time of day that they have sex, as a simple and non-invasive way to increase their odds of catching a smaller ovulation window. When it comes to this particular “fertility treatment,” couples seldom complain. “You don’t want couples to sort of bow down to the process,” Kort says. “So creating an alternative plan has to potential for some couples to make it more exciting.”
