At some point in the deep dark past, it was decreed that smoking was manly. Even today, some see men smoking as a rite of passage, an entry into the brotherhood of adult men. The problem with this is that a man who smokes can end up in some decidedly unmanly situations. Here is some information about both the short term and the long term effects of smoking in males that can affect every part of his life.

While the number of men that smoke has gone down in recent decades, there are still far too many smoking man images in our culture that link men smoking with virility and masculinity. The smoking man is one who takes risks, goes for what he wants and is a man of action. While it is true that the male smoker is taking risks and is engaged in an action, they are very different from what the image implies. The man is risking his health, his relationships, and possibly one thing that he values above all else – his potency.

Most men invest a large portion of their self-image in their ability to perform sexually. Yet, smoking over time interferes with normal blood flow to all parts of the body, even the penis. The result is that the heavy smoker may begin to have difficulty achieving an erection. To make matters worse, the effects of smoking can begin to take a toll on the ability of a man to produce healthy sperm. Effects of male smoking on fertility and sexual ability can devastate a man, and lead to serious relationship problems with his partner.

Other effects of smoking for males include respiratory and blood pressure problems, as well as the development of lung and heart disease. There is no such thing as being able to smoke just a little and avoid the range of male smokers diseases. Both the occasional cigar smoking man and the light cigarette smoker will still have to deal with a range of health issues at some point in their lives. A young man smoking is simply an old man with health problems waiting to happen.

While women and men cigarette smoking statistics continue to indicate that the number of men smoking continues to decline, there is still much to do in order to get men to see that a smoking man is not a masculine man, nor a winner. Until we can completely rid our culture of the image of smoking men as being daring and adventurous, we will need to convince our men one at a time that smoking has nothing to do with being a real man.