Smoking, Vaping & Sexual Health Issues

Smoking Is Bad For Sexual & Reproductive Health

Everyone knows that smoking and vaping have many adverse effects, but many overlook how bad it can be for your sexual health. Whether smoked or vaped, nicotine has a vasoconstrictive effect, which means it tightens and shrinks blood vessels. Prolonged, heavy use of this type of vasoconstriction can cause permanent blood-vessel damage.

Since an erection in the penis or arousal of the clitoris depends on strong blood flow to happen, smoking or vaping can potentially lead to erectile dysfunction (ED) and female sexual dysfunction. A study published on November 30, 2021, from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine proved that men who use e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than when compared to those who do not vape.

Is Vaping Better For Sexual Health?

For those thinking vaping is a much better option, keep in mind that a single Juul pod used for vaping has the equivalent of twenty cigarettes worth of nicotine. Vaping E-Cigarettes (or using a Juul device or Juuling) releases much lower concentrations of other harmful chemicals when compared to regular cigarettes, so while it is better for you, it is still not without health concerns. It is undoubtedly proven that it is more harmful than not vaping at all.

Sexual Health Issues Caused By Smoking

Below are some examples of just how harmful tobacco can be based on the comprehensive report by the British Medical Association provided research from the US Surgeon General and the World Health Organization:

• Smoking is implicated in malignant cervical cancer and miscarriages.
  
  
• Lighting up regularly increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome.
  
  
• Women who smoke have a 3x higher risk of having low-weight babies, which puts the babies at risk for coronary heart disease and diabetes later in life.
  
  
• Smoking during pregnancy can lead to fetal malformations like cleft palate and less well-known problems like placental complications, and a decrease in the amount and quality of breast milk.
  
  
• Lighting up can interfere with your sex hormones and put you at risk of painful and irregular periods and possibly early menopause.
  
  
• If you take oral contraceptives and smoke, you're 20x more likely to suffer blood clots, leading to heart attack or stroke.
  
  
• Male smokers have lower sperm counts and a higher proportion of damaged sperm.

The Challenge to Stop Smoking Or Vaping

When you are ready to quit smoking but find that you are having a difficult time, you are by no means alone. It is difficult to change addictive behavior, and smoking certainly is a mental and emotional addiction in addition to being a physical one.

There are a lot of companies that try and sell you specific ways of quitting smoking, but the best advice we can offer is to stop looking for someone to tell you how you should quit and find a way that makes sense to you. Everyone handles such things differently, and no one fix is perfect for everyone.

Mental Approaches

On a mental level, it will be essential for you to examine the "self-talk" in your mind. What kind of messages are you sending yourself around smoking or vaping? Are you shaming or giving yourself guilt for it? If so, it may be time to honor your smoking for how it has served you. Perhaps it is not healthy in some ways, but it has probably soothed you through some difficult moments in your life, and it may be time to acknowledge how it has served you. I am not suggesting that you see it as all positive, but nor should you hold it as all negative either. It is time to adjust your mentality to see how you can now fill the loss of your addiction with more healthy and positive behaviors.

Doing meditative exercises where you take deep cleansing breaths and mindfully focus on the clean air filling your lungs, cleansing out all of the toxins and tar build up in your lungs would also be a great way to integrate your intentions.

Emotional Approaches

On an emotional level, smoking or vaping has provided you with a level of comfort. On a psychological level, because smoking is associated with the oral stage, it may be of interest to you to look at the oral stage in your childhood to determine if there is something that you are still struggling with now.

On a more holistic level, it will be vital for you to find nurturing in other ways so that taking away your emotional coping skill from smoking won't be so difficult. Do things that will comfort yourself on an emotional level. When you need hugs, ask for them; when you need to feel safe and warm, try to connect with someone who makes you feel that way, or if alone, do things that will accomplish a similar feeling, such as taking a hot aromatherapy bath.

Finding others to talk with that are going through the same thing is also helpful. There are for people quitting smoking and vaping. Emotional support from someone who knows what you are going through is a fantastic way to get you through this.

Physical Approaches

Exercising is another way to feel physically empowered and in control of your life and is one of the best ways to reduce stress. Another physical way to address cravings is through massage, acupuncture, and acupressure (especially ear points known for assisting in addictions).

Keep in mind that smoking and vaping are very much chemical addictions, and things like the patch or medication are chemicals that may make your transition easier. There is no shame in making it easier for yourself. It is, of course, a personal decision, and you ultimately must do what feels right for you.

Spiritual Approaches

One Native American interpretation of the act of taking smoke into the lungs is symbolic for taking in "spirit." They used pipes during their ceremonies to reflect this belief and enhance their access to a spiritual realm by using peyote.

On a spiritual level, an addiction to smoking may reflect the need to take in "spirit" in a more comprehensive way. Finding your spirituality in other ways is an excellent place to start in addressing that. A tangible example may be having a spiritual ceremony that incorporates all the elements (Water, Earth, Air, Water, Metal).

For example, a new moon ceremony is a great day to start a new phase. It could be something like this:

• You write down on a piece of paper three categories. The first is what smoking has meant to you in the past; the second is what smoking means to you now; the third is what you see in your smoke-free life. Be specific with descriptive words that will make your writing as lucid as possible.
  
  
• Take the paper and hold it close to your heart; meditate in silence as you make your transition to letting go of your addiction.
  
  
• Hold the paper over a candle flame with some metal clamps so as not to get burned, and hold the burning paper over a bowl of water. Place the ashes into that water.
  
  
• Take the water outside and pour them into a special place in the ground, and speak words of letting your addiction go to the universe.
  
  
• Do something that is entirely and reflective to take in and appreciate your new leash on life.

Other Suggestions

Alternative Treatments

• Acupuncture
  
  
• Hypnosis

Drugs

• Chantix (varenicline tartrate)
  
  
• Zyban (buproprion hydrochloride)
  
  
• Nicotine patches
  
  
• Nicotine gum
  
  
• Nicotine lozenges

Chinese Herbalism

• Green tea assists in healing the damage done to the liver.

Herbalism

• Oats: will calm you and assist with willpower.
  
  
• Skullcap & Valerian: calm the nervous system and will help with withdrawal symptoms.
  
  
• Cramp bark: aides in nervous tension and jitters.

Aromatherapy

Antidepressant oils include chamomile, clary sage, ylang-ylang, and rose.

Flower Essences

• Crab apple: for purification
  
  
• Gorse: For being stuck in a negative pattern
  
  
• Mustard: for depression with an unknown cause

Vitamins & Minerals

• Primrose Oil: Provides GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) to assist with mood swings.