Does Tobacco Use Hurt Sperm Motility?

Tobacco use can hurt a person in more ways than they may realize. Of course, every smoker has read the “Surgeon General’s Warning” on the sides of a pack of their favorite brand of cigarettes. These warnings talk about things like lung cancer, emphysema, and even the danger that smoking might pose to the baby of a woman who is pregnant. Television commercials for national organizations warn us about the dangers that there may be to breathing second-hand smoke. However, even with all of this information, there are still ways that tobacco use can hurt you that you may not know. For example, everyone knows about lung cancer, but how many people know that tobacco use can hurt sperm motility?

Sperm motility refers to the way that sperm move in the process of conception. The sperm have a long journey, through the vaginal tract, past the cervix, and up into the fallopian tubes where they can fertilize an egg. If the sperm aren’t able to create energy, or are damaged in some way or another, they are much less likely to make the journey successfully. There are studies that suggest that smoking tobacco can make a man’s sperm somewhat “sluggish”, or have difficulty in creating enough energy to make their long journey. These studies demonstrated that tobacco use does, in fact, hurt sperm motility. Quitting smoking, then, may actually increase a man’s fertility.

Tobacco use is not the only thing that can hurt sperm motility, of course. In many cases, sperm motility may be hurt by an infection, or by a hormonal imbalance. In other cases, there might be a genetic cause. Whatever may be the specific cause of a man’s low sperm motility, there may be certain options available to the couple who wish to become pregnant. Advance fertility assistance, including procedures such as IVF and ICSI, can be used to isolate healthy sperm and put them into direct contact with the egg, where conception can occur.

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