Smoking Fertility: The Facts
17 Aug 2012
Are you thinking you’ll give up smoking when you get pregnant? Many smokers are unaware of the effect smoking can have on fertility.
Getting pregnant sometimes isn’t as easy as it may seem and for smokers, the risk of infertility may be twice that of non-smokers. This includes passive smoking – which is only slightly less harmful to fertility than active smoking.
For women who smoke, they are at least 1.5 times more likely to take more than a year to get pregnant compared with non-smokers, while men may experience a lower sperm count and volume.
The toxins contained in cigarette smoke can affect the early stages of fertilisation and implantation including the ability and the time it takes to get pregnant.
Furthermore, the success of IVF is lower amongst smokers and there is the concern of women smokers experiencing menopause on average two years earlier.
The good news is that after a year of not smoking, most of the negative effects of smoking on fertility are reversed.
Check out the Five Fertility Factors video at www.yourfertility.org.au to see how smoking- including passive smoking - can affect your fertility.