Smoking and Fertility
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 163, Word Count: 542,
When you plan to have a baby then it is best to keep away from smoking. Research has revealed that smoking can reduce your chances of conceiving. It is important to do everything you can right from eating a healthy diet to living a healthy lifestyle in order to boost your chances of getting pregnant. If you are a smoker, then making this lifestyle change can be difficult but you will have to make this sacrifice. You should also keep in mind that even if a family member is a smoker, it can have effects on your chances of conceiving.
How does smoking affect your chances of getting pregnant?
Cigarettes contain nicotine which when inhaled through a cigarette can reduce the levels of estrogen hormone in your body. Estrogen is an essential hormone that helps in conception and a successful implantation of an embryo in the uterus.
Smoking can also affect the number of eggs produced in the ovaries, thus reducing the number of eggs passing down the fallopian tubes, thereby reducing the chances of fertilization. Even if you do conceive, smoking can reduce the chances of a successful implantation of the embryo to the uterus.
Smoking during pregnancy
Smoking during pregnancy can be harmful and damaging to the fetal development. Women who smoke during their pregnancy can have the following after effects.
- Higher chances of an ectopic pregnancy
- Higher possibility of miscarriage or stillbirth
- Higher possibility of placenta previa
- Higher possibility of preterm birth
- Higher possibility of apnea (breathing lapses) and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS or crib death)
- Chances of genetic defects, such as cleft lip
- More chances of vaginal bleeding
Remember that even if your partner smokes, jus inhaling the smoke can have adverse affects on the pregnancy. Smoking can also affect his fertility. Smoking will lower his sperm count and make it less mobile which means that the sperms won’t be able to move quickly. A healthy sperm count is vital for conceiving.
What should you do?
It is important that both partners should mutually decide to quit smoking, or else either one of you will find it difficult to quit if the other still continues to smoke. If it gets hard to quit then maybe you should join a support group or get some professional help. A support group can help you a great deal because you get to talk and share your experiences with like-minded people who are also working hard to quit smoking. Their experience and advice can be of great help to you. You can also visit your general practitioner, who can also give you some advice and tips on how to quit smoking.
It is important to keep yourself motivated when you’ve made the decision to quit smoking. In order to keep you motivated so that you give up on smoking completely, give yourself small treats or rewards whenever you manage to refrain from smoking for the day. Also you must keep reminding yourself that by not smoking you are only benefiting you and your baby to be born
About the Author
Dr Tsou Jinyeu is a well known gynecologist and has been in this field since 1995. His special interests are – genetic and birth defects, high risk obstetrics, lupus in pregnancy, premature labour, premature delivery, triplets and ultrasound diagnosis. He is graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Nowdays he is working as a medical doctor at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health.
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