There is no doubt that smoking affects both female and male fertility. In women cigarette smoke is harmful to her ovaries and the longer that she has been a smoker the more harm is done. Smoking accelerates the loss of eggs and reproductive function and may cause menopause to advance by several years. The toxins in cigarette smoke interfere with the ability of the cells in the ovaries to create estrogen which causes the egg to be more likely to develop genetic abnormalities. There is also an increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. If a smoker does manage to produce a baby it is more likely to have a low birth weight or be premature. And the likelihood of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is higher in a household where someone is a smoker.
Just as smoking has an impact on the general health of a man it also affects his reproductive health as well. The sperm count of a smoker is on average between 13 and 17% lower than non-smokers. A man who smokes has more dead and malformed sperm and a lack of sperm motility. Smoking also stops the adhesion of the sperm to the egg which means fertilization cannot take place. What is equally worrying is that these affects are present whether the man is an occasional, periodic or even a passive smoker.
Cigarette smoke also damages the genetic makeup of the sperm – which cannot be repaired. This is now believed to be passing on permanent genetic ill health to any smoker’s child. Children of five years of age whose fathers smoked an average of a packet of cigarettes a day for five years prior to conception have a 70% higher risk of developing cancer than children born to a non smoking man.
Not only that but smoking can damage the veins necessary to gain an erection increasing the risk of erectile dysfunction by about 50% for men in their thirties and forties.
The good news is as soon as you stop smoking your body starts to repair itself. One day smoking is one day closer to restoring your fertility naturally and regaining general health and well being.
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