Will quitting smoking affect sexual function?

Harm of smoking on male sexual function

Sexual function of adult men, including sexual desire, penile erection and fertility. Medical research has proved that nicotine and dozens of other harmful substances produced by tobacco burning will obviously damage normal sexual function, leading to impotence and infertility.

Damage of smoking to erectile function of penis

The occurrence, development speed and duration of penile physiological erection depend on the blood flow velocity of penile artery, the relaxation degree of cavernous smooth muscle and the closing function of penile vein (limiting the blood return of cavernous sinus). Nicotine in the smoke makes the penis artery wall and cavernous smooth muscle contract, which leads to stenosis of arterial lumen and eyebrow sinus and insufficient blood perfusion, so the erection is slow and unstable. At the same time, it causes the closure mechanism obstacle of penis vein system, shortens the maintenance time after erection and affects sexual intercourse ability.

Nicotine can also affect the erectile function of penis by inhibiting the physiological function of vasoactive substances; Scientists have done experiments: first, let a group of 15 long-term smokers quit smoking for one day, and then inject a proper amount of drugs (such as papaverine) into the corpus cavernosum of penis. After 20 minutes, the penis erection of 15 people is full and hard, and the average pressure in the corpus cavernosum is as high as 86 mm Hg. "After the previous vasodilators completely disappeared, subjects were allowed to smoke cigarettes with high nicotine content continuously.

In addition, the contents of nitric oxide and prostacyclin in smokers' whole body and local tissues of cavernous body are obviously reduced, which affects penis erection during sexual excitement; Long-term smoking promotes atherosclerosis, hypertension and coronary heart disease, which is another main reason for impotence and overall decline in sexual function.

Long-term smoking can also make internal iliac artery, internal pudendal artery, penile artery and cavernous body harden, narrow lumen and slow perfusion flow, leading to erectile dysfunction.

Smoking makes the androgen level in the body plummet, causing sexual dysfunction.

Testosterone is not only the material basis for maintaining male characteristics and normal sexual desire, but also an indispensable condition for penis erection. Long-term smoking leads to the destruction of interstitial cell structure in Shiwan, and the function of androgen synthesis plummets.

The results of blood tests before and after nicotine injection showed that nicotine directly inhibited the activity of St. Malone synthase and reduced the production of testosterone. This effect can disappear naturally after quitting smoking completely. Therefore, although smoking can cause sexual desire and erectile dysfunction and impotence, most people can return to normal within a short time after quitting smoking. Even those who smoke for a long time and have developed cavernous body and related arteriosclerosis can get better after permanent exposure to smoke, and 50% of them can return to normal sexual life.

Long-term smoking leads to infertility

The influence of smoking on adult male reproductive function mainly includes three aspects:

(1) In the early stage of injury, sperm can still fertilize the hatched cells and form embryos or fetuses. However, a large number of nicotine, carcinogens and dozens of other toxic compounds in smoke damage sperm genes to varying degrees, hinder the normal growth and development of embryos and fetuses, and lead to abortion, premature delivery or stillbirth.

(2) Test data and medical research data confirm that the high content of strong carcinogen "cadmium" in cut tobacco not only directly distorts and cancerates tissues and cells, but also activates cancer-based countries dormant in germ cells (sperm and hatching cells), leading to a sudden increase in cancer incidence of smokers and their offspring. Their descendants get married and have children, and the activated oncogenes can be passed on to their second and third generations ... which can be described as endless troubles.

(3) People who smoke heavily for a long time are often exposed to high concentrations of catecholamine (the decomposition products of norepinephrine and epinephrine), which can easily lead to varicocele, blood stasis in testicles and epididymis veins, and hinder the process of regeneration and maturation. The total number of sperm discharged during sexual intercourse is small, and the density is low. The proportion of sperm such as abnormal sperm, sperm with no upward motility and sperm with low motility that can't meet hatching cells is obviously increased.

Research data show that habitual abortion, premature delivery, delivery of low birth weight infants, stillbirth and male infertility caused by smoking can almost all return to normal fertility after six months of completely quitting smoking.

According to the above description, it can be seen that the sexual ability and sperm motility of smoking men can be restored to normal levels in a period of time. At this time, smokers will feel that their sexual function has been enhanced. In fact, this is because they are out of the danger of quitting smoking, and your sexual function has returned to his original normal state.

In the description of most quitters, they said that after quitting smoking, the once-disappeared morning pulse began to appear again, and the erection hardness of penis during sexual intercourse was stronger than that during smoking, and the pleasure was stronger and more lasting. More importantly, after quitting smoking, the whole person's mental and health status has been well improved, and the feeling of refreshing has returned to life.