If you are a smoker and are trying to have a baby, stop smoking now.
Everyone knows that smoking increases the risk for heart, lung and blood vessels diseases. Everyone should also know that smoking substantially affects fertility, the ability to become pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby.
Each time you smoke a cigarette more than 7,000 chemicals spread throughout your entire body. At least 250 are known to be harmful and can lead to fertility problems, including:
- Ovulation problems
- Damage to your eggs or premature menopause
- Increased risk of cancer and increased risk of miscarriage
Smoking appears to accelerate the loss of eggs and reproductive function and may advance the time of menopause by several years.
Components in cigarette smoke have been shown to:
- Interfere with the ability of cells in the ovary to make estrogen
- Cause a woman’s eggs to be more prone to genetic abnormalities.
Due to the toxins from cigarettes, smokers are more likely to suffer from miscarriage, preterm labor or ectopic pregnancy.
Male smokers are at an increased risk for the following fertility problems:
- Lower sperm count and sperm motility problems (motility is the ability of sperm to swim towards and penetrate the egg)
- Increased abnormalities in sperm shape and function
- Hormonal issues
- Erectile dysfunction
If you are planning undergo IVF treatment, stop smoking immediately.
- Research has show that a smoker needs almost twice as many in vitro fertilization (IVF) attempts to conceive compared to a nonsmoker.
- Female smokers require higher doses of gonadotropins to stimulate their ovaries, have lower peak estradiol levels, fewer eggs obtained, more canceled cycles, lower implantation rates, and undergo more cycles with failed fertilization than nonsmokers.
Research has shown that cessation of smoking for at least two months before attempting IVF, significantly improves chances for conception.
Male and female partners in couples with a history of infertility or recurrent miscarriage, enhance natural fertility and success rates with infertility treatment if they stop smoking.
The impact of passive smoking is only slightly smaller than for active smoking, so if you live with a smoker you should encourage your partner to stop.
- Exposure to cigarette smoke for even just a few days can affect your health and your fertility.
- Secondhand smoke exposes you to poisonous chemicals, affecting your fertility.
- Secondhand smoke is almost as damaging to your fertility as if you were smoking yourself.
- The incidence of sudden infant death syndrome also increases in households where someone smokes.
Pregnancy and IVF is the perfect reason to stop smoking and fortunately many couples decide to quit, giving a boost to their health and much better chances for a healthy life to their baby.
Useful links:
http://www.reproductivefacts.org/FACTSHEET_Smoking_and_Infertility/
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco/second-hand-smoke-fact-sheet
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco/cessation-fact-sheet
