If you are reading this, chances are that you are either a smoker who is considering quitting or you know someone, a loved one perhaps, who you would love to 'kick the weed'.
Sexual functioning requires balanced coordination among hormones, nervous system to carry stimulation and healthy vascular system to pump blood to the penile tissues to cause a proper erection. Absence of any component among them will inevitably lead to erectile dysfunction. Now, what is the contribution of smoking in causing erectile dysfunction? Smoking affects the vascular system by narrowing down the blood vessels that contributes to the blockage of arteries; therefore the penis gets insufficient blood pumped into it, which results in a failed erection. Strokes and heart attacks are other life threatening diseases which can be caused by smoking. Now, let me tell you that smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by 50% for men in their 30s and 40s. Let us see what nicotine actually does to the male private part to negate an erection.
Atherosclerosis, a fatty deposit in the arteries, built up by long term smoking, blocks the inflow route of blood into the penis.
Acute Vasospasm, a result of nicotine stimulation sent to the brain, causes rapid contraction in the penile
tissues. This situation restricts blood flow into the penis.
The presence of nicotine in the blood stream damages the valve mechanism that traps blood in the penis. This problem is known as venous dilation.
Nicotine also reduces the volume of ejaculation.
It lowers sperm count and the sperm develops an abnormal shape.
The sperm motility is also impaired by nicotine.
Cigarette smoke contains about 4000 chemicals, most of which are supposed to damage the vascular system. The most dangerous chemicals are carbon monoxide, nicotine, and butadiene, causing thousands of deaths and millions of heart attacks, arthritis and impotence. A sheer fact can be deduced from the following findings; cigarette smoking results systemic arterial damage. We can infer another fact that impotence or erectile dysfunction is a signal to other life threatening diseases like heart attack, stroke and other heart and artery related problems.
