Life

Should I Lift My Legs After Sex To Get Pregnant?

by Mishal Ali Zafar

When trying to conceive, you are willing to try anything in order to finally see those positive lines on a pregnancy test. Whether it involves eating yams or buying special lubricant, no method is off the table. One popular theory is that gravity can harm your chances of conceiving, which can lead you to wonder, should I lift my legs after sex to get pregnant?

For those trying to get pregnant, right after sex, gravity can seem like an enemy, proposed by Albert Einstein, whose sole purpose is to pull your partner's swimmers away from their ultimate goal — insemination. Naturally, you lift your legs up, maybe even do a handstand in your effort to battle gravity. But does it make a difference?

According to USC Fertility, there's no evidence that lifting your legs up after sex will boost your chances of conceiving. When sperm enters the cervical canal, it will travel into the fallopian tubes in under two minutes, so raising your legs may not make a difference.

There is consensus on their position. According to Parents, putting a pillow under your butt or raising your legs up in the air won't likely make a difference either. When the sperm is ejaculated inside you, it ends up in your cervical mucus, which holds sperm there for fertilization, and helps it travel through your reproductive system, regardless of gravity.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, cervical mucus plays a primary role in the conception process by preserving and nourishing sperm while it travels to meet the egg — thin and sticky, egg-white cervical mucus is ideal.

So it seems that cervical mucus is the anti-gravity weapon that the sperm needs to swim its way up to fertilization, and there's no conclusive evidence or research that shows a connection between raising your legs up and getting pregnant. But when you are on a mission to have a baby, anything goes. If lifting your legs up after sex makes you feel good, then, by all means, lift away and bask in that sexy afterglow.