For every cigarette you smoke, you lose 14 minutes of your life. But don’t you know that it also reduces the density and speed of sperm, making it more difficult for conception?
According to the Hemizona Assay by Dr. Loni Burkman, reproductive medicine specialist from the University of Bufffalo, the sperm from nearly two-thirds of the chronic smokers failed a special test that measures the sperm’s ability to fertilize egg. Those men showed a 75% decline in fertilizing capacity compared to non-smokers. Human sperm carry a receipt for nicotine, which means they recognize and respond to nicotine. Heavy smokers overloads the nicotine receptor in human sperm and the testes, declining fertilizing potential.
The study involved 18 men who smoke at least four cigarettes a day for more than two years where sperm function was compared to that of non-smokers whose fertilizing capacity had been confirmed. Almost all smokers whose sperm failed the test had an index of 36 or less, which means a severe loss in fertilizing capacity. Honey! Hand me that nicotine patch!

Estrogen fuels a woman’s competitiveness streak the same way testosterone does in men, scientists say.
A research revealed estrogen fuels a lust for power, with single women and those not on the Pill particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of the hormone.
Levels of estradiol – a form of estrogen – shot up in power motivated women when they won a computer game and plummeted when they lost.
The finding, by US and German researchers, mirrors the role of the sex hormone testosterone in driving feelings of dominance in men.
Inspired by a recent Cambridge University study that showed male financial traders make more money when their testosterone levels are high. Women’s hormone fluctuate in a similar way.
Power-driven women – 49 in all – were pitted against each other on a quick-fire computer game for 10 rounds.
“Following each round, they were told whether they won or lost and they could watch each other’s reaction to winning or losing,” said Stanton, an expert in the psychology of motivation.
Saliva samples taken during and after the contest showed the levels of estradiol in highly motivated women rocketed when they won and stayed high for at least 24 hours. When they lost, levels plunged.
The fluctuations were particularly noticeable in single women and those not on the Pill, the journal Hormones and Behavior reported.
Those who were not powered motivated, if they won, their estrogen went down. If they lost their estrogen went up a little bit.

Men should do pelvic floor exercise, similar to the moves the All Blacks perform during the haka, say researchers who claim they can be as effective as Viagra in curing impotence.
Researchers have found the sort of exercises women are taught to do post-natally- which involve simply contracting internal muscles – can be just as effective as Viagra, without the side-effects, including headaches and indigestion, that affect one of the 10 users.
In a study in the British Journal of General Practice, around 40 per cent of the men who worked at strengthening their pelvic floor muscles for three months regained full sexual function – a further 30 per cent had improved function.