Do You Have A Smoking libido? Or Are You Sleeping With An
Inactive Ashtray?
Ok, so maybe you started smoking thinking it looked cool and
that it might affect your sex life to look cool, or be grown up
or rebellious or whatever.
You are of course totally correct in assuming that smoking
affects your sex life. In fact, several recent studies have
looked at exactly this question in regard to male impotence and
found that there is a link between smoking and difficulties
having an erection. Now tell me how cool is that? That is surely
far too grown up, that is as grown up as your aged grandfather!
Smoking has been linked to coronary artery blockage, but now we
know that arteries in the penis are damaged by smoking, too. In
a study of men with penile artery blockage (average age 35), the
smokers were significantly more blocked than non-smokers. And
the more they smoked, the more their arteries were blocked.
Since erections are mainly caused by blood flowing into the
penis through arteries, unclogged arteries are very important in
enhancing one's sex life.
Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it tightens blood vessels
and restricts blood flow. In the long term, it has even been
shown to cause permanent damage to arteries. Since a man's
erection depends on blood flow, researchers assumed smoking
would affect erections. Studies have confirmed this time and
again. In one study published in 1986 in Addiction Behavior, it
was shown that just two cigarettes could cause softer erections
in male smokers. Results are corroborated by a definitive study
published in June 2001 that looked at all studies done on
impotent men over the last two decades. The research showed that
40 percent of men affected by impotence were smokers, as opposed
to 28 percent of the general male population. Interesting eh?
So what does all this discussion about impotence mean for women?
During sexual arousal, the labia, clitoris, and vagina also
swell up with blood, similar to a man's penis, enhancing
sensation and arousal. If nicotine can restrict blood flow and
cause erectile dysfunction in men, it can be assumed that blood
flow is restricted in women as well, and may have a negative
effect on sensation.
In the British Medical Associations report: "Smoking and
Reproductive Life", the report states that Women who smoke take
longer to conceive. Among smokers, the chances of conceiving
fall by 10 - 40 per cent per cycle. The greater the quantity of
cigarettes smoked, the longer a woman is likely to take to
achieve pregnancy.
Cigarette smoking can also affect male fertility: smoking
reduces the quality of semen. Men who smoke have a lower sperm
count than non-smokers, and their semen contains a higher
proportion of malformed sperm. By-products of nicotine present
in semen of smokers have been found to reduce the mobility of
sperm.
Of course, quitting smoking would also eliminate stained teeth,
unhealthy skin, rapid accumulation of wrinkles on the face, and
clothing, hair, and breath that stink of smoke. That might
improve one's sex life. Decreasing your risk of cancer and heart
disease -- which also do tend to have negative effects on one's
sex life -- can also be sexy in the long run.
Smokers may have enjoyed a sexy image in the past, but research
tells us that they are not "doing it" as often as non-smokers.
Studies show that men between 25 and 40 years who smoked one or
more packs per day had sex less often than non-smoking men of
the same age. Another study suggested that carbon monoxide in
the blood caused by smoking inhibits the production of
testosterone (a hormone that creates sex drive). Lastly, smoking
affects fertility. Smokers' sperm come in many sizes and shapes
- many of them not normal. Some have two tails or two heads,
others have giant or tiny heads, and some have split tails. The
more a man smokes, the worse the damage. Nicotine essentially
poisons the sperm and its ability to fertilize an egg.
Smoking isn't good for your lungs or heart as is very well
documented, and it certainly isn't good for your sex life. It is
no longer cool. Are you sleeping with an inactive ashtray? Is
your libido being smoked away?