Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

For many men, smoking has become a habit that is hard to shake. Some smoke, because of stress, others started because of peer pressure and some because it is fashionable. However, whatever the reasons, smoking can affect your sexual performance.

Sex therapist Dr. Sidney McGill notes that smoking (whatever substance) means inhaling an active ingredient such as nicotine in tobacco or THC (active chemical compound) in ganja, as well other compounds, that can cause health problems. He said one of the main problems caused by smoking is cardiovascular.

Weaker erection

He said that for both men and women, sexual function depends on the heart and the blood vessel. He notes that if someone who smokes has other ailments such as diabetes and high blood pressure, they will experience weaker erections over a period of time. A recent study done by Dr. John Spangler of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre reported to the American Society of Hypertension, last May, that men with high blood pressure who smoke are 26 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction, better known as impotence.

Smoking also has a fatal effect on both sexual and reproductive health. It does not only affects the reproductive capability of women, but it also causes cancer and other fatal diseases in children by causing mutations in genes and chromosomes.

Dr. McGill also pointed out that smoking is more likely to affect older men because younger men have a higher testosterone level, so they tend to over compensate for their cardiovascular problem than older men. However, he said that over time, they, too, will be affected.

Lower sex drive

He said that the more you smoke, the less your sex drive. A number of studies show that the toxins found in cigarettes can be dangerous to the testes. In addition, smoking decreases sperm density, total sperm count, total number of motile sperm and citrate concentration in sperm. It changes sperm morphology, sperm vitality and ejaculated volume of semen. Smoking also reduces the quality of the semen and sperm.

Though it is hard to quit smoking, at least try by using nicotine patches or gum, eat right and exercise is a sure way to better your sex live.

Additional Source: www.about.com, www.sciencedaily.com