With over 1 billion people smoking worldwide it is estimated that one in three adults smoke. The number will probably continue to rise each year. The most prominent health effects of smoking are lung cancer, heart disease and COPD and have been well documented over the last two decades. A male physical difficulty that you wouldn't think had anything to do with smoking has been recognized as well.
There are thirty million men in the U.S. suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) today and it is expected to double by 2025. Impotence in males can actually be caused by several factors including smoke from cigarettes which damages blood vessels that supply the penis with a flow of blood and help in the sexual erection.
ED becomes more prevalent with age and chronic smoking is a major risk factor. Long term smoking causes detrimental affects on the vascular nerves, structural damage to tissue and this impairs arterial flow to the penis or a spasm to the penile arteries. Whether it is the nicotine or the smoke in cigarettes is still unknown. The stimulation of nicotine in the brain also causes rapid contractions in the penile tissue; this restricts arterial blood flow in the penis and is known as Vesospasm, impacting the ability of the heart to pump blood that is needed to achieve and maintain an erection prolonged smoking also causes arterial sclerosis or hardening of the arteries. This slows the flow of blood to the penis and can prevent a man from achieving an erection at all.
With the heart having to work harder it becomes weaker and less blood reaches the penis which impacts the strength, stamina and frequency of erections.Compared to their non-smoking counterparts smokers as young as thirty to forty years old have between 50-80% increase of erectile dysfunction.
Smoking also causes anxiety which is a major factor for impotency. By ceasing to smoke, you can reduce the anxiety levels and allow your body to rejuvenate and heal itself. This will allow you to have a longer and healthier sex life. Hypnotherapy is something that seems to help with the anxiety.
There are five ways that cigarettes can cause impotence. Carcinogen-laden smoke builds up in the lungs. With a mixture of carbon monoxide and nicotine from a cigarette increasing blood pressure and heart rate this causes strain on the heart and blood vessels. Lack of blood flow causes for weaker erection. Inhaling carbon monoxide deprives the brain, soft tissue and muscles of oxygen which makes your entire body work harder. This makes the erection weaker and even harder to get. Smoking also results in fat deposits in the blood vessels and this constricts the vessels and makes for blood starved reproductive organs.
Taking medication for erectile dysfunction such a Cialis, Viagra or Levetra is not a permanent cure for men who continue to smoke. This may help improve erection but they only cure a symptom and the best permanent cure is to stop smoking.