Smoking may feel satisfying after a big meal or help take the edge off a stressful day, but it could also render you impotent. Approximately 30 million American men suffer from impotence, according to the About Senior Health website, with a study noting one of the impotence causes was smoking. Impotence was thus officially added to the lengthy list of smoking risks, which already include an increased chance of lung cancer, heart attack and myriad other health problems.

John Spangler, MD, led the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center study that brought the smoking and impotence link to light. He discovered that male smokers who suffer from high blood pressure are 26 times more likely to suffer from impotence. The study also revealed that even men who had quit smoking but still suffered from high blood pressure had an increased risk of impotence, making them 11 times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than their non-smoking counterparts.

Even if the smoking risks of lung cancer or heart attack are not enough to encourage men to quit, perhaps sabotaging their sex lives may be. Impotence is most common among older men and the condition often relates back to poor circulation.

Contributing factors can include diabetes and hardening of the arteries, both of which can be worsened with smoking. Other impotence causes can include certain medications, specific types of psychosis, depression, epilepsy and drinking alcohol, according to the About Senior Health site.

A healthy sex life does not have to disappear with youth, but can instead be sustained with healthy choices that make for a healthy lifestyle. Smoking is one of those choices that may play a large part in the equation.

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