Evidence that long-term cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for vasculogenic impotence is robust. Cigarette smoking also causes a variety of acute changes such as impairment in endothelium dependent venodilation; however, few studies have investigated these acute changes with respect to sexual arousal in humans, and none have looked at the effects of nicotine on physiological sexual arousal in women. Recently, we (Harte & Meston, 2008a; Harte & Meston, 2008b) conducted two studies that examined the effects of 6 mg of nicotine gum versus placebo on sexual arousal in men and women nonsmokers. Male genital arousal was assessed via penile circumferential change using a mercury-in-rubber strain gauge while female genital arousal was measured using vaginal photoplethysmography. Nicotine significantly reduced physiological sexual responses in both males and females. These data are in line with other research delineating nicotine’s vasoconstrictive properties and may support the hypothesis that nicotine deleteriously affects nitric oxide synthesis mechanisms that are integral to the sexual response in both men and women.

Recommended papers: 

Harte, C. B., & Meston, C. M. (2008). The inhibitory effects of nicotine on physiological sexual arousal in nonsmoking women: results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5(5), 1184-1197. (PDF 225 KB)

Harte, C. B., & Meston, C. M. (2008). Acute effects of nicotine on physiological and subjective sexual arousal in nonsmoking men: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5(1), 110-121. (PDF 296 KB)