Smoking is Harmful for Sexual Intercourse
Published on June 5, 2009 12:56 PM
Impotence is a common problem among men characterized by the hard incapacity to support an erection enough for sexual intercourse or the inability to achieve ejaculation, or both. Impotence can vary. It can involve a total inability to achieve an erection or ejaculation, an inconsistent ability to do so, or a tendency to sustain only very brief erections.
The risk of impotence increases with age. It is four-fold higher in men in their 60s compared with those in their 40s according to a study published in the Journal of Urology. Men with less education are also more likely to experience impotence, perhaps because they tend to have less healthy lifestyles, eat a less healthy diet, drink more and exercise less. Physical exercise tends to lessen the risk of impotence.
Erectile dysfunction affects up to 30 million American men, according to a recent study.
An erection depends on an intact nervous system and sufficient blood flow to the penis. When a man is sexually stimulated, the brain sends signals to the arteries in the penis causing them to dilate and fill up with blood. Special sponge-like erectile structures that run the length of the penile shaft, two corpus cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum become devoured with blood causing the penis to become firm. The inflated erectile tissue contracts the veins, preventing the blood from draining and thus the erection is maintained.
The penile arteries are very small, about 1/3 the size of the coronary arteries so they are very vulnerable to damage. Damaged blood vessels do not allow adequate blood flow, and low flow equals a weak or non-existent erection.
Researchers found that the four most common causes of erectile dysfunction are smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure, because all of these heath problems damage blood vessels. Of the four, only smoking is a different healthy young man’s problem. Smoking duplicates the risk of moderate to severe erectile dysfunction.
Scientists showed in a recent study that a man who starts smoking at the age of 18 and continues for 20 years may have his sex life seriously spoiled by the age of 38. But especially for men under 40 years old smoking is the most common cause of erectile dysfunction.
This disease is very hard to reverse. Scientists showed that only 25% of men will see improvement in their erectile dysfunction if they quit smoking. Other options include drugs like Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis, however, these therapies are most effective when combined with smoking cessation.
However, smoking rates in California are on the decrease and it became the second country with a lower number of smokers in the United States. The bad news is that 17% of Californian men and 9% of women still continue to smoke.
