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Smoking, Vaping, and Sexual Health

Updated 2026-11-02 · Draft: awaiting expert review

Strong evidence

The link between smoking and erectile problems is consistent across large studies. Evidence on vaping is newer and comes from observational data.

Smoking damages blood vessels, and healthy blood flow is central to arousal. Here is what research shows about cigarettes, nicotine, vaping, and what happens when you quit.

Smoking and erections

A meta-analysis of prospective studies found that current smokers were about 50% more likely to develop erectile dysfunction than non-smokers. Former smokers had a smaller increase in risk.

Erectile problems can be an early sign of blood vessel damage, which is why doctors recommend stopping smoking as one of the first steps.

Nicotine and arousal in women

Research in women is more limited. In a small controlled trial, a single dose of nicotine gum reduced the genital blood-flow response to arousal in healthy non-smoking women, even though it did not change how aroused they said they felt.

What about vaping?

In a large US survey, men who vaped daily were more than twice as likely to report erectile dysfunction as men who had never vaped, even after accounting for age, heart disease, and other risk factors. This kind of study cannot prove cause, but it is a reason not to assume vaping is harmless for sexual health.

The good news: quitting helps

  • In a one-year study of smokers with erectile problems, erectile function improved in at least a quarter of those who quit, and in none of those who kept smoking.
  • In another study, men who successfully stopped smoking showed stronger physical arousal responses within weeks of quitting.
  • Younger people and those with milder problems tend to see the most improvement.
  • Free support, such as stop-smoking services and nicotine replacement, makes quitting more likely to succeed. Quitting together can help too.

This article is for education only and is not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist before starting supplements, especially if you are pregnant, have a health condition, or take medication.

Sources

  1. Smoking and Risk of Erectile Dysfunction: Systematic Review of Observational Studies with Meta-Analysis (Cao S et al.). PLoS ONE, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060443
  2. The Inhibitory Effects of Nicotine on Physiological Sexual Arousal in Nonsmoking Women (Harte CB, Meston CM). The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00778.x
  3. Association of E-Cigarettes With Erectile Dysfunction: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (El-Shahawy O et al.). American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.08.004
  4. Do cigarette smokers with erectile dysfunction benefit from stopping?: a prospective study (Pourmand G et al.). BJU International, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-410x.2004.05162.x
  5. Association between smoking cessation and sexual health in men (Harte CB, Meston CM). BJU International, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-410x.2011.10503.x

We summarise research in our own words and link to the original. We do not copy text or images from these sources.