If you stop smoking, you will be good parents. Actually, we might want to say : “if you stop smoking, you will be parents”. Even if this is not completely true, you can still smoke and have babies, but proof has been made that smoking causes infertility, both for men and women.

The topic here is not to tell what complications the mother can endure or diseases the baby can get, but how smoking can prevent people to have a baby.

This is a fact, all studies proved it, smoking have a huge impact on the sexual health (reproduction, impotence, menstrual cycle, menopause, etc).

Infertility concerns men and women at different levels but are at a high risk for both of them. Note that it takes more time to conceive for smokers compared to non smokers. Here are the various effects of smoking for women and men on reproductive organs and functions.

For her :

  • The more a woman smoke the more she harms her ovaries. Her reproductive functions are lost faster and it has been noticed that menopause comes sooner for smokers (2 years or more).
  • Toxins in cigarette prevent ovaries to produce estrogen and oocytes (woman’s eggs) can suffer from genetic abnormalities.
  • IVF (In vitro fertilization) is also more difficult to achieve with smokers than non smokers. More attempts are required to make the fertilization a success.
  • Long time smoking can have irreversible effects on ovaries

For Him :

  • Smoking affects the semen and the sperm in quality and quantity. This means that the semen volume and sperm count is lower than non smokers.
  • The sperm morphology (size and shape) is also affected, more malformed sperm is noticed. The motility and lifespan is also reduced.
  • All these factors make the conception difficult. Even when conception is achieved, dangers on smokers babies health during and after pregnancy are higher than for non smokers babies.

Either you already have babies and kids, or are thinking about having a baby later, you should stop smoking as soon as possible. Your health now is the health of your babies in the future.