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What Smoking Can Do To Male Fertility

Smoking is bad for your health.  Sounds like a broken record doesn’t it? Yet so many people still do it! Everyone knows that smoking increases the risk of lung and other cancers and various other conditions. They also know that women aren’t supposed to smoke while pregnant, but how many know that smoking can affect fertility? And not only women’s fertility but men’s as well.

Any man who hopes to have children needs to start understanding just what cigarettes can be doing to their chances of becoming a father.

Smoking and Male Fertility

Men who smoke need to be aware that the quality of their sperm is influenced by the effects of smoking. Tests conducted have found that three out of four men who smoke have seriously impaired sperm mobility. This basically means that the sperm does manage to make its way to the female egg.  And that’s if just the male in the equation is a smoker. Imagine what the stats must be for a couple in which both people smoke!

All Is Not Lost

Only a doctor can tell you how much damage you’ve done, but it’s never too late to quit. Actually, quitting will help a man’s sperm get back on track, if you will. It has been shown that the health benefits of quitting smoking are pretty much immediate and your body will begin to feel the difference almost right away. Within a few short weeks, the sperm of a smoker will begin to move more like it should and misshapen sperm will not happen as often once a man stops smoking.
 
Don’t let this fool you into further believing the myth that just a puff or two is fine. Even if you are one who smokes only rarely, you’re still at risk for reduced mobility for your sperm and the possibility of having damaged sperm. Nicotine is bad for your body no matter what the levels are. By eliminating smoking from your lifestyle, a man can almost immediately see benefits in all areas of health including his fertility.

So many studies have been conducted to find out the effects of smoking on fertility and the results that are now being revealed show how bad smoking is on your ability to have a child. We often think that when it comes to trying to have a baby that the woman is supposed to bare all the responsibility of keeping on top of her health, quitting smoking and drinking, etc. As it turns out, male fertility is just as fragile when it comes to the effects of something like smoking so both parties involved need to do their part in getting healthy before trying to conceive.
 
So what all this means is that there is yet another reason to quit smoking. And, if you are part of a couple that is having trouble getting pregnant, then you might want to consider looking at your lifestyle as well as your partner’s lifestyle to see if that could be affecting your chances of having a child. Simple changes made to your lifestyle may just help you and your partner make that baby that you’re both longing for. So try a simple solution like eliminating smoking before you spend thousands of dollars on a costly fertility treatment like IVF or any other expensive fertility treatments.