Smoking And Erectile Health: What Is The Real Connection?

The harmful effects of smoking can affect most organs of the human body, regardless of gender. Men do, however, present additional risks at certain times in their lives.

An additional cardiovascular risk factor

Men are naturally more exposed than women to cardiovascular risks, because they do not benefit from the relative protection of the female hormonal system before menopause. In addition to this physiological factor, in smokers, tobacco is added to other cardiovascular risk factors linked to their lifestyle, such as excessive alcohol consumption or hypercholesterolemia following imbalanced food intake.

The accumulation of these factors therefore makes men ideal candidates for hypertension, but also for strokes and heart attacks, which are often fatal. However, it is important to remember that 80% of men struck by a heart attack before the age of 50 have tobacco consumption as the only risk factor.

When sex life is reduced to ashes

Far from being limited to the risk of cancer, the harmful effects of smoking can also rob men of part of their virility. Impotence, a particularly difficult disorder for men who suffer from it, is sometimes mistakenly viewed as an age-related dysfunction. However, erectile dysfunction can appear from the age of 25, especially in smokers.

Indeed, a good blood supply is necessary for sexual arousal, and therefore for an erection. However, tobacco, by acting both at the vascular and muscular level, causes a decrease in arterial flow, normally multiplied by 10 during an erection, and hinders the filling of the cavernous bodies of the penis. This results in difficulty in getting and maintaining an erection.

The consumption of tobacco thus multiplies by 27 the risks of impotence of physiological origin, and this in the medium or even short term, according to the American Journal of Hypertension.

While the intensity of consumption is proportional to the risk involved, "occasional" smokers are not spared. Recent studies under the supervision of Christopher B Harte, BA, and Cindy M. Meston, PhD, have shown that certain substances in tobacco, including nicotine and carbon monoxide, have harmful effects on erectile capacity even with moderate consumption. This is why every smoker, regardless of his age and the extent of his tobacco consumption, can be affected by erectile dysfunction, and the consequences they have on self-esteem and life in a couple. In addition to the risk of erectile dysfunction, tobacco smoke can also cause a decrease in libido following a decrease in testosterone secretion.

Thus, the association of cigarettes with the virility suggested by certain advertisements of the tobacco companies is in total contradiction with the reality of its effects. The good news, however, is that they are reversible if you stop smoking. It is therefore up to everyone to act to preserve their sexual and emotional life.

Fertility affected by tobacco

Smoking deteriorates the quality of sperm, reducing the fertilizing power of sperm. In fact, among smokers, they are less numerous, less mobile and have less vitality. The risk of infertility is therefore higher. In addition, tobacco alters the DNA of spermatozoa, which subsequently increases the risk of complications during pregnancy in women (poor implantation, miscarriage) and the risk of birth defects in children.