Introduction
Does smoking kill your sex drive? South Africa has legalised dagga. People were in celebration when this was announced. Now you can smoke dagga legally. It is such great news for dagga smokers. Do you understand what that means to you as a dagga smoker? Dagga is used for medicinal purposes, so they say.
How about we discuss the topic of how cigarette can affect your sexual performance. This is not only about male smokers, also females are affected too.
Are you that bra whom whenever he goes to the toilet he must light up a cigarette as if it is a remedy for constipation? Some will smoke a whole pack of 20 in a day. No one is judging. It doesn’t matter how many you light up. You know when you read a label pack of cigarette they tell you Tobacco cause cancer.
Effects of smoking
Not only does smoking cause lung cancer, it also affects your sex life. The blood that moves through the arteries that enables you to get an erection gets blocked. You need blood flowing into the arteries to maintain an erection. It is that simple, is it! The damage that smoking has on the blood vessels, and its effect on sexual performance can be permanent. And you are thinking, “Me, I have been smoking all my life and I can get it up right without any issues”. How sure are you that it is fully up? Let’s leave it here for your mind to wonder.
One cigarette even that stompie your friend just passed on to you can exert immediate effect, leading to a significant reduction in erectile capacity. It is primarily for this reason that tobacco is harmful for sexual health in the medium term. Furthermore, smoking can also negatively affect fertility, promote certain sexual diseases and lead to an early menopause.
What are the effects of smoking on sexual health?
There is a link between long-term smoking and arousal disorders. It could either be erectile dysfunction for men and lubrication problems (vaginal dryness) for women. Many things can cause sexual health problems. Smoking can and should be seen as a risk factor in itself, especially when an arousal problem suddenly develops. Smoking effectively poses a well-known risk to cardiovascular health. Given that circulation problems are the main physical cause of erectile dysfunction, it is clear that nicotine and tobacco will have a very negative impact on the sexual health of a smoker thanks to their detrimental effects on blood supply.
The connection between erectile problems and cardiovascular illnesses, as well as the constriction of the penal arteries, underpins the concept of the “sentinel symptom”, given that erectile dysfunction can be an early warning sign of broader cardiovascular illnesses. Erectile dysfunction can therefore appear several years before the first cardiac symptoms. The harmful effect that smoking exerts on the whole network of veins seems to depend on the dosage and on how long the person has smoked.
The physiological effects of smoking
When you smoke the signs might not be clear at first. You know the are different causes of weak erection and smoking happens to be one of them. If the arteries become blocked, the blood supply no longer reaches an optimal level and problems can set in. A 25% reduction in blood supply is enough to affect the quality of an erection, whereas the supply in the coronary arteries must generally fall below 50% for physical symptoms of heart disease such as angina to become present. Furthermore, the most commonly used medication for treating erectile dysfunction (e.g. Viagra®, Cialis®, Levitra®) act by increasing the blood supply, which emphasizes the importance of good circulation as a major contributor to adequate sexual arousal. Circulation problems in women can also lead to an insufficient level of arousal and, for example, vaginal dryness.
Smoking just one cigarette can affect sexual performance
For regular smokers, it has become a natural habit for them to smoke every chance they get. It is like an addiction they can’t break away from. That addiction as nice as they say it is play a major role in making you become Mr 2 Minutes noodle. In other worse cases you can’t even get it up, so you become Mr Dololo.
Tobacco is harmful for sexual health
Tobacco can lead to impaired arousal phase among men and women. However, arousal and erection problems are not the only side effects. Smoking can also affect fertility, effectively decreasing it among both male and female smokers, and as has been well documented, it can also cause problems during pregnancy. The anti-estrogen effect of smoking tends to bring the menopause forward by several years. Lastly, many different illnesses such as sexual infections or Peyronie’s disease (an abnormality of the penis) can be activated or aggravated by tobacco.
Our recommendation
To have a happy and satisfying sex life please stop smoking! Consider the effect of smoking on sexual function. This can be an important motivator for those who wish to stop smoking and regain a functional and fulfilling sex life. It should also be noted that although sexual health problems do not generally affect life expectancy, they are more common than people think and considerably affect the overall health of an individual. They should therefore be subject to proper medical treatment.
Conclusion
Men’s Clinic International deals with any sexual problems that are related to Weak Erections, Early Ejaculation, Low Libido, STIs or Circumcision. Do get in touch with us to book a consultation with our professional doctors who specialise in Men’s Sexual Health.
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