No Butts About It—Smoking Harms Fertility

You know smoking is bad for your heart, lungs, and skin, but did you know it’s also bad for your fertility?

Lighting up can prematurely age a woman’s ovaries, and has been associated with an accelerated rate of atresia, or egg destruction. It also moves menopause up by roughly two years. Doctors know smoking reduces the amount of estrogen in a woman’s bloodstream, and if you’ve smoked heavily for a long period of time, your chances of having genetically abnormal eggs are higher than for non-smokers. Smokers also have an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm delivery, and low-birthweight babies.

For more fertility tips, check out Conceive's book, Fertility Facts: Hundreds of Tips for Getting Pregnant.

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Everyone knows about maternity leave, but sometimes women need to take time off before a baby arrives. If you’re having fertility treatments or trying to adopt, here’s what you should know to get the time off you need. Whether—and when—to tell your boss that you’re undergoing fertility treatments or arranging an adoption depends a lot on your relationship with your supervisor. While most workplace experts caution against revealing too much personal information, how do you explain being late for work because of blood tests and ultrasounds, and then needing to get home for hormone injections? Or what if you must travel abroad to bring home a baby, and then want three months to bond with your adopted child?
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