Enjoy the freshness of tobacco even if it affects your sexual performance! This is the warning aired yesterday by many physicians. According to cardiologists Dr. Joselito Atabug, most men think of smoking as only causing the extreme—like cancer and emphysema. Another important aspect of their life; however, is overlooked—their sexual health.
In a weekly health forum between media practitioners and medical professionals sponsored by the Philippine college of Physicians (PCP), Atabug confirmed that smoking alter men’s ability to maintain sufficient erection for a satisfactory sexual pleasure.
Men who smoke at least one pack of cigarettes per day for 10 years, he explained, hardly maintain an erection fitting for satisfactory sexual activity since the arteries of the penis constrict due to the decreased amount of blood going through the vessels. This narrowing of blood vessels is due to atherosclerosis, or the plaque deposits in blood vessels, which is obtained from the chemical substances in cigarettes. In developing atherosclerosis, he added, four major risk factors should be considered: hypertension, diabetes, smoking and cholesterol.
“cigarette smoking is truly dangerous to health. In this case, smoking causes vaso constriction of the blood vessels in penis. Meaning that instead of the normal blood flowing through the vessels, what comes out is blood that is sticky and licky caused by the toxic substances in cigarette, he explained.
Urologist Dr. Juliano Panganiban similarly said that smoking and alcohol could case impotence or erectile dysfunction. “ drinking too much alcohol or smoking may damage the blood vessels and nerves that affect your ability to have an erection. Giving up any of these may have a positive effect on your sex life--- if the habit is stopped on time” the doctor said. Studies have confirmed that atherosclerosis is the cause of approximately 50 percent of erectile dysfunction (ED) cases in men who are more than 50 years of age. ED or the inability to get and/ or maintain an erection that is satisfactory for sexual activity affects all men over 40 worldwide, over 100 million men (one in every 10) worry about not being able to have an erection at some point in their lives.
In comparison to nonsmokers of the same age, the experts disclosed that the aged males (at least in their 60’s and have been smoking for 10 years) will have less sexual satisfaction because of their reduced energy to perform well, sexually. Women’s infertility on the other hand, has been linked to habitual or chronic cigarette smoking. Studies have shown that pregnant woman who smoke will suffer from preterm labor and stillbirths. Babies born to smoking mothers will either have congenital defects like cleft palates and low intelligence quotients.
