Ok, so maybe you started smoking because you thought it looked cool and you thought it would make you look more mature, rebellious, or whatever.
You are 100% right to think that smoking affects your sexual life. In fact, a number of recent studies have looked at this question about male impotence and found that smoking and having trouble getting an erection are linked. Now, how cool do you think that is? That is way too old, it's as old as your grandfather.
Smoking has been linked to clogged arteries in the heart, but now we know that smoking also hurts the arteries in the penis. In a study of men with blocked penile arteries (average age: 35), smokers had much more blockage than men who didn't smoke. And the more they smoked, the more clogged their arteries got. Since erections are mostly caused by blood flowing into the penis through the arteries, having clear arteries is a great way to improve your sex life.
Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, which means it narrows the blood vessels and slows the flow of blood. It has even been shown to damage arteries in a way that can't be fixed. Researchers thought that smoking would affect erections because blood flow is important for a man's erection. Studies have shown this over and over again. In a 1986 study that was published in the journal Addiction Behavior, it was found that just two cigarettes could make male smokers' erections softer. Results are backed up by a definitive study that looked at all studies on impotent men done in the last 20 years. This study came out in June 2001. The research showed that 40% of men with impotence were smokers, while only 28% of men in general were smokers. Interesting eh?
What does all this talk about erectile dysfunction mean for women? When a woman is sexually aroused, her labia, clitoris, and vagina also swell with blood, just like a man's penis does. This makes sensations and arousal stronger. If nicotine can slow blood flow and make it hard for men to get an erection, it is likely that blood flow is also slowed in women, which could affect how they feel.
In their report "Smoking and Reproductive Life," the British Medical Association says that women who smoke take longer to get pregnant. The chances of getting pregnant drop by 10–40% per cycle for people who smoke. The more cigarettes a woman smokes, the longer it is likely to take her to get pregnant.
Smoking can also make men less fertile because it lowers the quality of their sperm. Men who smoke have fewer sperm than men who don't smoke, and more of their sperm are not formed properly. Researchers have found that nicotine's byproducts in the sperm of smokers make the sperm less mobile.
Quitting smoking would, of course, get rid of stained teeth, unhealthy skin, wrinkles on the face that form quickly, and clothes, hair, and breath that smell like smoke. That could make one's sexual life better. Long-term, it can also be sexy to lower your chances of getting cancer and heart disease, both of which can hurt your sex life.
In the past, smokers may have had a sexy image, but research shows that they are not "doing it" as often as nonsmokers. Studies have shown that men between the ages of 25 and 40 who smoke one or more packs a day have less sex than men the same age who don't smoke. Another study found that carbon monoxide in the blood, which is caused by smoking, stops testosterone from being made (a hormone that creates sex drive).
Last, smoking makes it hard to get pregnant. Many of the sizes and shapes of smokers' sperm are not normal. Some have two heads or tails, others have big or small heads, and some have tails that are split in two. The damage gets worse the more a man smokes. Nicotine hurts the sperm and makes it unable to fertilise an egg.
It's well known that smoking is bad for your lungs and heart, and it's also not good for your sex life. It's not cool anymore. Do you go to bed with an empty ashtray? Is your libido being smoked away?
