Effects of Smoking on Male Fertility

Cigarettes, tobacco are used widely, even when people know that they cause harm to their health and even the people around them. Cigarette smoke consists of gases, vaporised liquids and particles that are very minute. The main constituents that affect health negatively are nicotine, tar in the particulate phase and carbon monoxide in the gaseous phase. Smoking can cause cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and even cancer in the lungs of the people. People just ignore these problems. But, a question that most of the people ask is whether or not, does smoking causes infertility in male? 

The answer is yes. There are high chances that male fertility is affected by smoking. In that case one should visit any Fertility clinic in India or should go to the IVF Clinic in India for proper checkups and guidance. 

Smokers take longer to conceive as smoking has negative effects on your chances of becoming a parent and having a healthy baby.

Studies show that the count of sperms is low in a smoking male as compared to a non-smoking male. Sperm Morphology is also affected as the shape of a sperm can be deformed by it. Sperm motility problems is also found in males who smoke. Motility is the ability of sperm to swim towards the egg and penetrate it. These problems can cause a problem in having a baby.

There are many evidence which suggest that men should quit smoking in order to improve reproductive outcomes. Studies show that chances of conceiving can increase by quitting smoking at least three months before trying to get pregnant. Smoking in the three months before conception can damage the DNA in sperm and affect the health of the child in negative ways. The risk factor for childhood leukaemia increases if the father smokes around the time of conception.

Sperm DNA Fragmentation can increase due to smoking. The DNA fragmentation index (DFI) is a ratio that detects the percent of fragmented or broken sperm DNA. DFI % is found significantly higher in smokers as compared to non-smokers. A higher DFI % results in decrease in fertility.

Sperm’s epigenetic profile can also change due to smoking. Epigenetics are additional information which are added on top of our DNA and are affected by our environment. These epigenetic molecules control which genes are turned on or which genes are turned off. Epigenetic information can change within your lifetime and can have an effect on your future generations.

Smoking causes many hormonal issues and can even cause erectile dysfunction.

So, there are lots of problems that can be caused by smoking, not only on your health but also on your fertility which may cause bad impact on your future child health. And rather than having a negative effect or any harm, quitting smoking is a lot better, as precaution is better than cure. So, please quit smoking and lead a healthy and happy life with your family.