Tobacco companies like to portray their products as cool and sexy, giving the impression that smoking makes you sexy too. But as many of us already know, in reality smoking cigarettes is actually one of the worst habits for maintaining a healthy sex life.
For starters, there’s “smoker’s breath.” The toxins and odor-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke that remain in the mouth and lungs are nearly impossible to get rid of, so when a smoker breaths out—even if they haven’t smoked all day—smoke odors are exhaled too. Talk about a mood-killer…
However, data from new and old studies all agree that smoking has much more serious, biological effect on intimacy than just having bad breath. It’s now understood that every puff from a tobacco cigarette decreases libido and seriously increases the chances of erectile dysfunction in men.
What the Doctors Say
The truth that smoking can cause problems with sexual impotence and virility has been a widely established fact in the medical and scientific community for a number of years now.
For instance, a 2007 Chinese study found that smoking is just as bad for your sex life as it is for the body. In the study, over 7,500 men between the ages of 35-74 without vascular disease were surveyed about their smoking habits and their sex life. The research team discovered:
“A significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes that men smoked and the likelihood they would experience erectile dysfunction.”
As a result of the information gathered, researchers concluded that tobacco cigarettes contributed to erectile dysfunction in one in five Chinese men who reported having problems with impotence.
“Smoking has a direct, negative effect on the sexuality of a man on every level,” says Panayiotis M. Zavos, PhD, director of the Andrology Institute of America and professor of reproductive physiology and andrology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
In evaluating infertile couples, Zavos and his team determined that smoking in the men was strongly linked to the couple’s inability to conceive. Perhaps even more surprising, they found that smoking drastically reduced a man’s sexual desire and satisfaction—even for young men in their 20s and 30s. The men who smoked reported having sex half as often as non-smoking men of the same age.
“In my clinical experience, smoking does decrease performance. Sexual performance is more than just erectile function; it involves many of the systems of the body,” says Zavos. “But when a man’s ability to have sex decreases, his appetite for sex will generally follow.”
Can E-Cigs Improve Your Sex Life?
Obviously the first thing to do if you are having difficulties in your sex life is quit smoking or cut back on the amount of tobacco cigarettes you smoke. The 4,000+ toxins inhaled in cigarette smoke causes lethargy, reduces endurance, and lowers testosterone levels, thereby inhibiting your natural libido.
But what about e-cigs?
As a vasoconstrictor—meaning it narrows the blood vessels—nicotine consumption is believed to be one of the main culprits behind an inhibited libido in both men and women. However, according to Dr. Murray Laugeson: “With respect to e-cigarettes, the nicotine dose per puff is only about 10% that of a puff from a regular tobacco cigarette, and so e-cigarettes alone are unlikely to cause impotence.”
Plus, e-cigs emit water vapor instead of irritating and odorous smoke, which means there is no bad smoker’s breath to kill that romantic moment.
Of course, further research is needed to reveal the full effects e-cigs have on sexual performance and vitality. Until then, why not conduct your own experiment and try e-cigs out for yourself?
Visit the VaporZone main site to learn how our e-cigs work and browse through our selection of premium e-cig starter kits.
