There are no controversies on this matter – smoking and infertility are very tightly linked. Once you see the truth about smoking and infertility I’m certain it’ll be a lot easier to give up the habit.
Did you know that all other things being equal, smokers usually take more time to conceive than non-smokers? I can understand that from an entirely practical viewpoint. Smoking decreases your sex drive and makes kissing quite unpleasant, which usually means not as much sex, which means less chance of a baby. I read the British Medical Association circulated some other information about the associations between smoking and infertility: apparently, you have a 40% lower chance of getting pregnant if you smoke, compared to an individual who has never smoked. The same guys say that 5000 miscarriages and 120 000 cases of male impotence are brought about by smoking every year. Miscarriages and impotence – that sounds rather stressful to me. I was under the impression that smoking was supposed to help with stress, not cause it!
That does not mean that smoking can be used as additional contraception! Smoking in pregnancy can have damaging effects on your unborn child. If you smoke prior to and throughout pregnancy, you have an increased chance of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy and your child has an increased chance of having a malformation such as cleft lip and palate. Smoking while pregnant generally results in a low birth weight or early birth, which has complications of its own, and also influences your baby’s future respiratory health – which means more stress and expense on medical care for you when your child grows up. Smoking, you or someone else in your house, also increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Not only will you be disadvantaging your child, but you’ll be causing yourself a large amount of extra stress and added expense that you could have avoided.
The scientists aren’t sure exactly sure how smoking impacts fertility – but for the most part they recognize that it impacts the quantity and quality of the woman’s eggs and it could cause permanent harm to the ovaries and make menopause start earlier. Having the optimum estrogen levels is also important for your fertility and smoking can influence your body’s making of estrogen. If the man smokes then fertility is also influenced, even though again, scientists are not sure how. They think that smoking can bring about low numbers of sperm and increase the chances of having deformed sperm, not ideal if you want a healthy baby! Although there is less evidence to link smoking and male infertility, if you think you’re cleared, think again. A woman’s fertility will be affected by her partner’s smoking nearly as acutely as it would be influenced if she smoked herself.
If you experience other fertility problems already, smoking is positively one of the damaging things you can do. Smokers who intend to conceive through IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) need almost twice as many treatments than non-smokers. IVF is already quite pricey, over $12 000 a time. I’m not eager to have to pay double! Although smokers usually take higher quantities of fertility medication, it still isn’t as successful as the normal amount is for non-smokers – ka-ching, ka-ching – it keeps adding up.
Obviously, not all smokers are the same and your fertility will be affected by how much you smoke and the amount of time you’ve smoked for. If you stop then within a year your fertility is just about the same as someone who has never smoked, though some ovary damage can be irreversible. So for your own wellbeing, for your chances of conceiving and delivering a healthy baby who will become a healthy adult, and to save yourself stacks of money in cigarettes and healthcare, don’t overlook these links between smoking and infertility.
Here is more information on Reasons for Infertility. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Infertility.
