There is overwhelming scientific evidence that smoking adversely affects women and men who are trying to conceive. Specialists recommend a number of things you can do to increase your chances of conception, such as lowering the intake of alcohol and caffeine, implementing an exercise regiment, and positive changes in diet, including proper supplementation. Quitting smoking is a recommended change that is extremely important to ensure good health, and to optimize your chances of getting pregnant.

Here are the Facts:

• Women who smoke are 60 percent more likely than nonsmokers to be infertile.
• About 25% of women of reproductive age smoke, and nearly a third of them continue to do so during pregnancy.
• Menopause occurs one to four years earlier in smoking women than non-smoking women.
• Nicotine has a disruptive effect on egg maturation, ovulation rates, and fertilization rates
• Smoking is associated with increased spontaneous miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies.
• Chemicals in tobacco can alter the cervical fluid, making it toxic to sperm.
• Studies show that smokers require nearly two times as many in vitro fertilization (IVF) attempts as nonsmokers.
• Women who smoke have an increased risk of cervical cancer, which may require surgery that involves removal of the uterus and sometimes ovaries, which leaves the women permanently infertile.

It is not just women who should stop smoking while trying to conceive...

Men who smoke are at risk of lower sperm count and quality, as well as modified and damaged sperm shape and function. Men who smoke are also at an increased risk of impotence.

Tips to Help You Quit:

• Remember that actual physical addiction to nicotine begins to dissipate in just 2 weeks, all other struggles exist because smoking has become a habit. Remind yourself that after a few weeks of being smoke-free, you are not physically addicted anymore.
• Look into nicotine replacement therapies such as ‘the patch’.
• As mentioned above, specialists recommend cutting back on a number of things when trying to conceive (alcohol, caffeine, junk food etc). Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to quit everything at once. Take it slow, and one step at a time to increase your chances of sticking with your decision to change your lifestyle.
• One of our favorite tips is to rub your belly every time you think of smoking a cigarette. Envision a child growing inside of you and how very important it is to you to have that be a reality someday.
• Consider alternative methods of quitting smoking, such as acupuncture and hypnosis.

As evident, we can not stress enough the importance of not smoking if you are trying to conceive. It is common knowledge that kicking the habit can be very challenging. Hopefully these tips will help you in your decision to quit smoking, and in your journey to conception.

Tags: Enhancing Fertility, Fertility Good Health, infertility, infertility causes, male infertility

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Enhancing Fertility, Fertility, Male Fertility, Misc. Info, Studies & Stats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.