So far, the best “trick” to achieve a desired pregnancy is to synchronize sexual intercourse with the woman’s ovulation days. However, new research carried out by a team of scientists from the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University (USA) concludes that having sex – regardless of the day of the woman’s cycle – causes changes in the female immune system that promote conception . The study has been published in the journals Fertility and Sterility and Physiology and Behavior .
” It’s a new answer to an old riddle : How can sex that doesn’t happen during the fertile window improve fertility?” Says Tierney Lorenz, leader of the study.
Having sex regularly is another tip for couples looking to have children, however, it was not yet understood how having sex during non-fertile periods could help pregnancy . Up to now.
To delve deeper into this topic, the researchers used data from the Women, Immunity and Sexual Health (WISH) study participants that specified the menstrual cycles of 30 healthy women, half of them sexually active . Experts found that women who had sex had significantly higher levels of pregnancy-promoting T cells during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle – in which the lining of the uterus becomes covered with a yellowish tissue very rich in cholesterol in anticipation of the pregnancy-. Furthermore, their antibody levels were also different in the two groups of women.
“ In order to protect itself, a woman’s body needs resources to defend itself against foreign invaders. But if that logic is applied to sperm or a fetus, then pregnancy could not occur. The changes in immunity that women experience could be a response to this problem, ”explains Lorenz.
T cells manage the body’s immune response (helping the body to accept the conditions of pregnancy or to defend itself against external threats). In the group of women who did not have sexual intercourse, none of these changes related to the immune system were present. That is, sexual activity is what initiates, therefore, changes in the regulation of the immune system in sexually active women , compared to sexually abstinent women.
“ In fact, we are seeing that the immune system responds to a social behavior : sexual activity. The immune systems of sexually active women are prepared in advance of the mere possibility of pregnancy ”, concludes Lorenz.
