Patients at Kristina Dreiås' fertility clinic often arrive feeling uncertain. They have been confused by advice from both healthcare professionals and Google searches.
Do not have sex too often, they have been told.
At most every other day.
Save up sperm before ovulation.
But if the goal is to get pregnant, wouldn’t having more sex actually make sense?
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"We thought this had to be something we could find an answer to," says Dreiås.
She is a doctor and PhD candidate at Telemark Hospital Trust's Fertility Department South.
The fertility doctor and her colleagues obtained data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study, one of the world's largest health studies.
The data allowed them to see how many times per week 64,000 women had sex in the period before they became pregnant.
Dreiås notes that these are women who conceived naturally.
The researchers divided the women into four groups according to how many times they had sex each week:
Less than once (14 per cent)
One to two times (35.5 per cent)
Three to four times (37.3 per cent)
More than four times (13.2 per cent)
"Just go for it"
And those who became pregnant the fastest were …
… those who had sex more than four times a week!
For women who had sex more than four times a week, the chance of becoming pregnant was 16 per cent higher during each cycle. They became pregnant one month sooner than those who had sex less frequently.
"Have sex as often as possible. Just go for it. Especially as ovulation approaches. That's when it's important to have sex frequently. Every day, if you can," the researcher says.
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Fertility doctor Kristina Dreiås finds that many couples are unsure whether it's a good idea to have sex every day or not.(Photo: Randi Åsarmoen Lunde)
Dreiås admits that it may sound obvious.
"But there has been a lot of uncertainty around it," she says.
The researchers also found some differences between certain groups.
After all, frequency of sex isn’t the only factor involved.
Greatest effect among those without children
When the researchers separated women who already had children from those who did not, they found different patterns.
The benefits of having sex more frequently were most apparent among women who did not already have children.
Among women without children, those who had the least sex had the lowest chance of becoming pregnant. The chance then increased in line with the frequency of sex. Women without children who had sex more than four times a week had a 23 per cent greater chance of becoming pregnant during each cycle.
Among women who already had children, however, there was no difference between having sex less than once a week, one or two times a week, or three to four times a week.
"These women have probably timed sex quite well around ovulation, which may explain why we don't see such large differences between the groups," says Dreiås.
"Younger women who don't have children may also have the luxury of being more spontaneous than women who already have children and many other demands on their time," the researcher explains.
The sperm are fine
But what about the idea that sperm get used up by too many ejaculations?
Dreiås explains that the advice to save up sperm comes from studies of sperm quality and sperm concentration.
"But the fact that sperm concentration decreases when ejaculations happen close together doesn't necessarily tell us what happens inside the body," she says.
When couples have sex frequently, sperm cells can accumulate inside the woman’s body, Dreiås explains. Sperm can survive there for several days, and they need time to make their way up to the fallopian tubes. If intercourse only takes place at the exact time of ovulation, it may already be too late.
"Even if there are fewer sperm in each ejaculation, having sex frequently means there are more sperm already inside, swimming around and waiting. We're debunking the myth that frequent sex is somehow disadvantageous when you’re trying to get pregnant. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be an upper limit. The more often, the better," the researcher says.
Confirms American recommendations
"I think it's great to have a Norwegian study like this," says Nan Oldereid.
She is a gynaecologist and fertility specialist who has worked with and researched fertility for more than 25 years.
But she points out that the advice itself is not entirely new.
Gynaecologist Nan B. Oldereid thinks it's great to have a Norwegian study confirming this.(Photo: Private)
"This fits very well with the conclusion of the Norwegian study," says Oldereid.
Frequent sex helps, but don't stress about it
Although the advice to have sex frequently has been around for some time, there are still plenty of misconceptions in society, according to the gynaecologist.
"Many people think they should save up sperm until ovulation. And they often don’t know exactly when ovulation occurs, especially when relying on various apps that don’t provide reliable information about the timing," she says.
Previous studies have shown that in men with normal sperm quality, both sperm count and motility remain good even if they ejaculate every day.
Ejaculating too infrequently may actually appear to have the opposite effect on sperm cells, according to Oldereid.
"It's useful to have Norwegian research showing the same thing previous studies have found: relatively frequent sex can help couples achieve pregnancy without 'fertility assistance' in a shorter period of time," she says.
But Olderaid adds that it has to feel right for the couple.
Although frequent sex appears to provide an advantage, the gynaecologist points out that the differences in how long it took women in the Norwegian study to become pregnant were not particularly large.
"So couples shouldn't feel pressured to have sex more often than feels natural for them," she says.
