There’s No Such Thing As 'Safe Days'

23.07.2012 | By: Z. J.

Only 30 % of women have fertile days between 10th and 17th day of their menstrual cycle. Can women therefore rely on the method of 'safe days'?

If you want to get pregnant you should be sexually active even during your safe days. (Photoxpress)

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You practically have a chance to get pregnant every day of your menstrual cycle. Safe days are just an illusion, not a birth control method. The research included women aged between 25 and 35, the age when women are most fertile and have regular cycles. Despite regular periods, their fertile or safe days were unpredictable, while teenage girls and women near menopause have even more unpredictable cycles and safe days.

Safe days are unpredictable even in a regular menstrual cycle

The research about safe days included 213 healthy women from North Carolina. The safe period or fertility was examined in almost 700 cycles, but even for women with regular periods it was difficult to pinpoint the start of ovulation.

Every day their urine was tested to check their estrogen and progesterone levels. If the levels suddenly change, it means that you’ve started ovulating. Allen J. Wilcox, David Dunson and Donna Day Baird, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the USA, published the results of the research in the British Medical Journal. So, in their opinion, a woman is potentially fertile even on the day she expects her period!

If you want to get pregnant, don’t rely on your fertile days

In the study, 2% of women were fertile before the 4th day of their cycle and 17% were fertile before the 7th day. More than 70% of women were fertile before the 10th and after the 17th day of their menstrual cycle. Women with regular periods had a 6% chance to be fertile on the day they expected their period.

Dr. Wilcox advises couples who want to have a baby to forget the concept of fertile and safe days and just have regular unprotected intercourse, at least three times a week. Whether or not you get pregnant doesn’t depend only on your fertile days. It’s influenced by the condition of the egg and sperm cells, the receptive environment in your womb and other individual factors.