How does smoking affect fertility and how long does it take to improve after giving up smoking?
You can find information on smoking and pregnancy in our factsheet, here. A recent publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that underweight and obese smokers were more likely to take longer than nine and a half months of unprotected intercourse to conceive than underweight and obese non-smokers. It is thought to take around three months for improvement to be maximised in relation to fertility after stopping smoking. Please don’t forget that your diet, alcohol consumption and the prospective father’s health are equally important when planning for a healthy pregnancy. In relation to nicotine replacement medicines, the effects vary tremendously from patient to patient, depending on pre-existing smoking and dietary habits, the amount of exercise taken and build. More information on nicotine replacement is available on the NetDoctor website here.