How to increase your chances of getting pregnant by having more sex, according to an expert

• It's a myth that you need to time sex only around ovulation to get pregnant, says sexual behavior researcher Tierney Lorenz.
• Her team's recent study found having sex in the first two weeks of your 28-day menstrual cycle can trigger ovulation.

If you time sex only based on ovulation to get pregnant, you may want to reconsider your strategy, according to a researcher who studies the intersection of women's mental health and sexual health.

During an episode of sex researcher Justin Lehmiller's podcast Sex and Psychology, assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tierney Lorenz said it's a myth that women should plan sex only around ovulation, the period when an egg drops from the ovaries into a fallopian tube where it can be fertilized by sperm.

In fact, many healthy women don't ovulate every 28 days, which is the average length of a menstrual cycle. But sex could trigger ovulation so it happens more often, Lorenz said of her research findings.

People who have sex more often tend to ovulate more often, said Lorenz

Lorenz's research suggests women's sexual behaviors influence their hormone production. This goes against the common belief that a woman's hormones influence her body's behavior at any given time, Lorenz told Lehmiller.

She said her study's results were similar to that of a previous large government-funded study. Both found women who are more sexually active are more likely to ovulate more often.

Lorenz said that hormones, which act as messengers to help the brain and other organs work together, are "subtle." For some people, their hormones could slightly change how they act, or increase the likelihood of some behaviors and body functions, said Lorenz. But there isn't conclusive research across the board, including when it comes to ovulation.

"Basically, being sexually active seems to trigger a higher rate of ovulation," Lorenz said, which increases the chances of becoming pregnant.

Have sex the first 2 weeks of your menstrual cycle to increase your pregnancy chances

Additionally, Lorenz and her team found the timing of sex during an entire menstrual cycle, which lasts about 28 days, matters more than timing sex only to one's ovulation period.

According to Lorenz, women who are "frequently" sexually active during the first two weeks of their menstrual cycles are more likely to trigger ovulation than women who don't have sex often during this time frame.

She added that having lots of sex the last two weeks of your menstrual cycle doesn't seem to affect ovulation.

"So for folks who are trying to conceive, who are trying to up their rate of ovulation, timing sexual activity to the front half of the cycle" could increase your pregnancy chances, she said.