Smoking & Fertility: What You Should Know

Improve Your Health for Your Growing Family

For couples trying to conceive, making necessary changes to improve their health for the benefit of their growing family is very important. One of the most important ways you can improve your health is to stop smoking. Though it might seem daunting, quitting smoking should be at the top of the list before you attempt to get pregnant. While the dangers of smoking are widely known, and it has been medically established for many decades, it’s essential to realize that smoking is especially harmful for couples trying to build families. Not only can it harm the baby in the womb, but it can also impact your ability to conceive in the first place. Many women who quit smoking find it makes the process of conceiving much easier.

Our fertility specialist and reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Mark Denker, is here to give you advice for the safest ways to quit smoking before pregnancy while supporting you through the infertility treatment process.

How Smoking Impacts Male & Female Fertility

Men who smoke cigarettes have lower quality sperm and lower quantity sperm counts. Sperm motility is also affected, as well as increased abnormalities in sperm shape and function. Not only does smoking harm a man’s health, it also can harm his female partner if she is exposed to his secondhand smoke.

For women, smoking cigarettes is harmful to a woman’s ovaries and makes her eggs more likely to carry genetic abnormalities. Ingredients in cigarette smoke, which include carbon monoxide, cyanide, and other noxious chemicals called carcinogens, have been shown to interfere with the ovary’s ability to produce estrogen. Smoking can hasten egg loss in women, significantly reducing their reproductive potential. Women who smoke might experience menopause sooner than women who don’t smoke.

Women who smoke have a higher rate of both miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. Babies born to women who smoke are more likely to be born prematurely and have low birth weights. In households where someone smokes, there’s a higher rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Smoking Affects the Potential Success of Fertility Treatments

Female smokers require nearly twice as many in-vitro fertilization (IVF) attempts as nonsmokers. These fertility patients also need higher doses of hormonal medications to stimulate their ovaries. Adopting healthy habits now is something we strongly encourage, as research shows that women who quit smoking even just two months before starting their first IVF cycle have a significantly higher chance for successful implantation.

If you are a smoker seeking fertility treatment, don’t worry; there’s still hope for a successful outcome.

Please contact our team at Palm Beach Fertility Center to set up an appointment so we can help start you on the road to better health and a positive pregnancy. Call us now at (888) 819-5177 to book an appointment.