An unhealthy lifestyle could put men at risk for sexual dysfunction, according to a new study.

Several factors associated with an unhealthy lifestyle, such as weight problems, physical inactivity, high alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and hard drugs appear to be associated with sexual dysfunctions.

Additionally, unhealthy lifestyles are more common among persons who are sexually inactive.

Danish researchers analyzed survey data from over 5,500 men and women to study the association between lifestyle factors, sexual inactivity and sexual dysfunction.

They found that unhealthy lifesty factors are associated with an increased risk of sexual inactivity by up to 78 percent in men and 91 percent in women.

Meanwhile, the risk of experiencing sexual dysfunction was up to 71 percent greater in overweight men, and more than 800 percent greater in men who used hard drugs.

The researchers also found that women who used hashish had a risk nearly three times greater of anorgasmia – not being able to reach climax during sexual activity – than non-hashish users.

“Hopefully our findings can be used in future counseling of patients with unhealthy lifestyles,” said lead researcher Professor Morten Frisch, MD, PhD, DSc, of Statens Serum Institute. “Knowing about possible negative consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle to one’s sexual health may help people quit smoking, consume less alcohol, exercise more, and lose weight.”

The study was published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

According to two new studies, smokers who tend to take their first cigarette soon after waking up in the morning appear to have a higher risk of developing cancer than smokers who wait until later in the day.

The finding is independent of cigarette smoking frequency and duration.

For one study, researchers looked at 4,775 lung cancer cases and 2,835 controls, all of whom were regular cigarette smokers. They found that people who smoked within an hour of waking up were 1.31 times more likely to develop lung cancer as those who waited. People who smoked within 30 minutes of waking were 1.79 times more likely to develop lung cancer.

Another study, which looked at 1,055 head and neck cancer cases and 795 controls, found that people who smoked within an hour of waking were 1.42 times more likely to develop head and neck cancer compared to those who waited. That risk increased to 1.59 times more likely if people smoked within 30 minutes of waking.

The findings suggest that the need to smoke right away may be what increases early morning smokers’ likelihood of developing cancer.

“These smokers have higher levels of nicotine and possibly other tobacco toxins in their body, and they may be more addicted than smokers who refrain from smoking for a half hour or more,” said Dr. Joshua Muscat, PhD, a professor at Penn State College of Medicine. “It may be a combination of genetic and personal factors that cause a higher dependence to nicotine.”

The study was published in the journal Cancer.

Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly decides to be a smoker. Smoking is a habit picked up from others who smoke. It’s a social disease. Individuals do it in imitation of somebody they respect who smokes, like parents or teachers, or they do it because their high school or college friends smoke and they want to fit in.

But once you put a cigarette in your mouth, you are exposed (not to mention that you are exposing everyone around you, as well) to the effects of nicotine, which is one of the most highly addictive drugs available today. And the more you smoke, the greater is your urge to smoke, and the more addicted you become.

The smoking habit will wreak havoc throughout the decades of your life because once you start to smoke, its deleterious effects spiral out of control, much like credit card debt. Smoking is associated not only with all kinds of cancer, from oral cancer to cervical cancer, but also with heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States today for both men and women. Since smoking also affects the respiratory system, chronic smokers have a higher incidence of bronchitis (an inflammation of the lining of the tubes that connect the windpipe to the lungs) and emphysema (a chronic lung disease usually caused by exposure to toxic chemicals or tobacco smoke) than those who don’t smoke.

And smoking interferes with the immune system as well; that is, smokers are more prone to getting chronic diseases, flu, and viral illnesses than are nonsmokers.

Then there are the secondary effects that smoking has on others. Pregnant women who smoke have smaller-sized babies and have higher rates of premature babies. And children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have higher levels of asthma.

If you are a smoker, there may be no better thing you can do for your health than to quit smoking, and the best time to quit is as a young adult. You may have started smoking in high school or college, but now you are on your own, away from the peer pressures of your schoolmates and the influence of your parents (who may be smokers themselves), and making a new life for yourself. This is the easiest time to kick the habit.

Of course, quitting is easier said than done. As Mark Twain remarked: “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

The reason it’s so difficult to quit is that it’s really a dual challenge, and you are unlikely to succeed in your quest unless you meet both challenges head-on.

The first challenge involves breaking the physical dependency that smoking causes. An absence of nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, nervousness, and an overwhelming desire for more nicotine. Very few people can go cold turkey and never pick up another cigarette again. Most people need to be gradually desensitized of their nicotine addiction.

One way to do that is with Nicorette gum or the nicotine patch. These products allow you to alter, over a course of weeks, the amount of nicotine that you ingest, until your body gets used to having no nicotine at all. Acupuncture and hypnosis have also helped people reduce or eliminate the withdrawal symptoms–irritability, depression, and lack of energy–that come from kicking the nicotine habit.

The second challenge for the smoker seeking to quit involves breaking the mental habit that smoking reinforces. The best way to do that is through the same system that got you smoking in the first place, through a peer support system. Just as in overcoming any addiction, breaking the smoking habit requires a support group, which can consist of friends, family, and/or coworkers. But you have to have somebody who is willing to be there for you, to give you the support you need when you are most likely to want to pick up another cigarette.

Quitting should be celebrated at every little step of the way because you’ll be seeing the benefits of your efforts in the minutes, days, weeks months, and years after you quit:

–Twenty minutes after you smoke your last cigarette, your heart rate drops.

–Twelve hours later, the carbon monoxide level in your bloodstream returns to normal.

–Two to three weeks after quitting, your circulation improves, and your lungs begin to function normally.

–One year after you quit, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.

–In five years’ time, your risk of stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker.

–In ten years’ time, your risk of dying of lung cancer is about half that of a smoker.

–And in 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is like that of someone who never smoked.

The long and short of it is, the sooner you quit, the quicker you’ll regain your health.

Think your smoking isn’t affecting your kids?  Think again.

According to a new study, mere exposure to secondhand smoke can spur symptoms of nicotine dependence in non-smoking pre-teens.

Not only that, the study also indicated that pre-teens who repeatedly observe a parent, sibling friend or neighbor smoking cigarettes are more likely to pick up the habit themselves as adolescents.

“Kids who see others smoking are more likely to take up the habit because they don’t perceive cigarettes as unhealthy,” said lead study author Simon Racicot, a PhD candidate in the Concordia University Department of Psychology and a member of its Pediatric Public Health Psychology Lab.

“We found that kids who’d never smoked who were exposed to tobacco use were more likely to hold positive beliefs about [cigarettes],” Racicot added.  “These are the kids who are more likely to start smoking as teenagers.”

This study is the first to show that increased exposure to secondhand smoke can induce symptoms of nicotine dependence in children who have never smoked before.  Nicotine dependence symptoms include craving cigarettes and finding it hard to go without smoking.

“Early findings suggest that secondhand smoke exposure could possibly trigger addiction in the brain – before kids actually start smoking themselves,” explained senior author Jennifer McGrath, a professor in the Concordia University Department of Psychology and director of its Pediatric Public Health Psychology Lab.

According to McGrath, 60 percent of children across North America are exposed to secondhand smoke.  The researchers recommend that new prevention efforts should be tailored to pre-teens who are highly exposed.

“When it comes to smoking around kids, the best thing a parent can do is to avoid exposing their kids to cigarettes and to secondhand smoke,” says Racicot. “A parent should step outside of their home or car to smoke. And the addictive habit should remain out of sight, out of breath and out of mind.”

The study was published in the Oxford journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.