How does parental smoking affect children? How does a father's smoking affect future children?

Marijuana (or products of its processing - anasha, hashish) is a common “soft” drug that is obtained from hemp. Reliable facts confirming Negative influence marijuana on male fertility and the possibility of conceiving a child, no. But some studies show that many men who smoke weed experience reduced sperm quality. According to scientists, marijuana brings to a man's body more harm than smoking regular cigarettes And overuse alcohol.

Effect on sperm quality

Marijuana is a weed that many young people smoke, mistakenly believing that the plant does not cause any harm to health. Cannabis contains about 400 chemical compounds; its narcotic effect is due to the presence of THC - tetrahydrocannabinol. In high doses, this toxic substance negatively affects sperm function. If a man regularly smokes marijuana (at least 6-7 times a week), the condition of his sperm will worsen. This will appear in the spermogram results:

• Reducing the number of healthy sperm.
• Decreased sperm activity.
• Reducing the concentration of germ cells.

Marijuana negatively affects sperm function.

THC contributes to the deterioration of testosterone production, the main male sex hormone. As a result, the volume of sperm produced decreases, its composition undergoes changes, and it becomes more viscous. The testicles gradually atrophy and their function is impaired. Due to problems with testosterone production, the shape and size of sperm change, and the number of dead and defective sperm increases. Decreased sperm motility reduces the chances of successful conception, since they are not able to “break through” the membrane of the egg.

Marijuana has the most detrimental effect on the fertility of young men (under 30 years of age). Research shows that the number of defective gametes in drug addicts who are addicted to marijuana before the age of 18 is higher than in men who are addicted to alcoholic beverages.

According to studies, men who regularly use marijuana (6 times a week) have an average of 37% lower sperm concentration compared to those who do not smoke weed. In addition, the following results were noted:

• There are 57% fewer healthy, motile sperm.
• Defective sperm (with altered shape) – 23% more.
• The number of dead cells increased by 19%.

At the same time, marijuana also contributes to the deterioration of male potency. The reason is a decrease in testosterone levels and impaired blood supply to the pelvic organs. Moreover, at first the result may be the opposite: smokers sometimes experience increased orgasm and more intense sex. But very quickly this effect disappears and problems with erectile function worsen.

How does consumption affect conception?

Deterioration in sperm composition is one of the reasons male infertility . Those who smoke weed regularly often experience serious problems with fertility. Systematic exposure to cannabinoids contained in marijuana leads to impaired sperm motility. At first they move very high speed, but as they approach the egg, their energy reserves are depleted, due to which the movement slows down. This energy is not enough to successfully penetrate the membrane of the female reproductive cell. As a result, the ability to fertilize sperm is sharply reduced.

Often, the use of weed has a negative impact on the female reproductive system.

Marijuana also has a negative effect on women reproductive system. In therapeutic dosage, cannabis is used to treat menstrual dysfunction, but regular smoking of marijuana can lead to infertility or problems with bearing a child. Frequent use weed before conception prevents the normal implantation of the embryo into the uterine mucosa: THC, the main toxic component of weed, has this effect. This increases the risk of miscarriage or developing an ectopic pregnancy.

When planning pregnancy, it should be taken into account that substances from the group of cannabinoids tend to accumulate in fatty tissues, and the rate of their elimination slows down. If you stop smoking marijuana, its toxic substances will have a detrimental effect on reproductive function for at least a month. This period may increase depending on several factors:

• Metabolism. The worse the metabolism, the slower THC metabolites are removed from cells.
• Amount of adipose tissue. The thicker the fat layer, the longer the removal of toxic substances.
• Smoking experience and frequency. For those who started smoking at a young age and did it daily, cannabinoids can be detected in the blood 3-4 months later.

A woman planning to become pregnant smoking weed men, these factors should be taken into account. Marijuana has a negative impact on the process of childbearing, so doctors recommend quitting the addiction at least 3 months before conception – for both women and men if they plan to become a father.

Consequences for the unborn child

Men who smoke marijuana may give birth healthy child. If a husband smokes weed, it affects his ability to conceive. The bad habit is reflected in the offspring if a woman abuses it. The expectant father needs to understand that smoking marijuana before conception and during pregnancy increases the risk of undesirable consequences for the child.

Women who abuse weed give birth to babies with “fetal marijuana syndrome”. This term refers to deviations caused by an addiction. Drug use disrupts the process of conception itself:

• Combustion products cause hypoxia (occurs from passive smoking, if the husband abuses weed), vascular problems cause disruption of the menstrual cycle.
• The toxic substances of marijuana negatively affect female eggs: the number of normal ovulation, the likelihood of conception decreases.
• THC contained in marijuana contributes to DNA damage, as a result of which congenital pathologies are diagnosed in the fetus.

Marijuana abuse can lead to premature birth, complicate their course. To minimize the risk to the child's health complete failure from smoking to conception and adherence to the principles of a healthy lifestyle: a balanced diet, moderate exercise, daily walks in the fresh air.

It is known that periodic use of weed (1-2 times a week) does not cause significant harm to reproductive health. Medicine knows cases where even smoking women the pregnancy proceeded without complications. Nevertheless, the sooner mothers and fathers realize the harmfulness of the habit, the stronger and healthier their offspring will be.

Orthodox layman Alexey Kulaev shares with us his personal experience quitting smoking. His brochure describes every step of this difficult struggle. Here are collected excerpts from the Fathers of the Church and devotees of piety about smoking.

How I quit smoking (an Orthodox layman’s experience of dealing with the sins of smoking)

Moscow 2004
Blessing of the Soul Care Center in the name of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt
The confessor and head of the Center is Hieromonk Anatoly (Berestov), ​​Doctor of Medical Sciences,
Professor

Text, compilation - Alexey Kulaev, all rights reserved, 2004

Preface

The reason for the appearance of this small book was that sometimes you have to tell people who want to quit smoking the same thing. And this is a rather boring task. Besides, you can’t remember everything in a conversation and you might miss something important. Therefore, if this work helps someone get rid of this slavery (which oppresses more and more over the years) and the forgotten joy of being in the “non-smoking era” returns to the person, then it will become clear why I shared my experience. You still have to quit smoking, not in “this” world, but in “that”, and a person can choose what is better: either do it voluntarily here (breaking this stupid habit forever) or suffer forever from the inability to quench his passion “there”

So, let's begin.

Behind you are several attempts to quit smoking “immediately”, there may be some other “coding”, different nicotine patches, etc. Therefore, it is time to stop and seriously think about the fact that the war ahead is difficult and long. But for this the reward is also great, i.e. return of physical and spiritual health, a feeling of freshness, increase, as they say, “ general tone", efficiency, creativity and much more. In my case, this also means the disappearance of headaches and heart pain. And my friends told me that I became more friendly. In my opinion, when someone quits smoking, their lost qualities simply return.
It's worth fighting for.
Waking up in the morning, without bad breath, with strength completely restored during the night, with gratitude in the heart the thought appears: “Glory to Thee, Lord!”

STEP No. 1 How to “firmly” decide to quit smoking.

Once, in 1991, a pious woman who published Orthodox literature surprised me during a conversation by telling me that she had once smoked, and for a long time, about twenty years. (I smoked “seriously” for the same amount of time, from 15 to 35 years old). And, in the end, she decided to quit. Coming to church services, she prayed something like this: “Lord, I don’t want and can’t quit smoking, but I will still come to You and ask you to make this happen. You, Lord, please deal with this situation yourself.” By sharing such a unique prayer, she planted a seed of faith in me that the same thing could happen to me. But it took me another four whole years to become a church member to such an extent that I could begin to fight seriously.

STEP No. 2 Where should a poor smoker go?

In 1995, in mid-April, my friend Anton and I got together and early in the morning we went to the glorious city of Serpukhov, to the Vysotsky Monastery, where the miraculous icon is located Holy Mother of God"Inexhaustible Chalice" By that time, Anton (smoker for 6 years) had already quit smoking. This was the fifth time he had gone to this monastery, and this was my first time. And, in general, for the first time I went to the miraculous icon. A bright morning with a bright sun, forgotten over the winter, the breath of antiquity and the reverence that you experience already on the approach to this monastery, at the sight of only its walls, everything was conducive to prayer. That indefinable feeling of holiness that overwhelms a person when he is near the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, the wondrous monastic service, the inexplicable, genuine confidence that the Lord Himself is really present there, in the altar, then instilled in me the expectation of future changes. This expectation seemed to be secured by the promise of the Most Pure One herself, born in my heart, that I would definitely receive not only what I asked for, but also many more wonderful gifts of God, which a person cannot even suspect.

After the Liturgy, on Sundays, a prayer for health is served in front of the icon and then holy water is distributed to everyone. Stocked up big amount containers, all Orthodox Christians are simultaneously eager to fill them, and therefore it is more prudent to wait a little on the sidelines. Since water is constantly supplied to the vats through a hose, there will still be enough water for everyone. There you can also order a commemoration of health at liturgy and prayer services, even for a whole year, for yourself and for relatives and friends who suffer from addictions to alcohol, drug addiction and smoking.

Even then, the monastery had collected two bags with letters from thousands of grateful pilgrims who received healing from these, alas, the most common ailments, after fervent prayers at the holy image. There are cases where long-term commemorations of health brought amazing results. Those of little faith and atheists, detractors and scolders of Christianity, became believers and forever parted with destructive passions through the prayers of their loved ones and the monks of the monastery.

I tried to drink the holy water brought from Serpukhov every morning throughout the entire time I quit smoking. The instant miracle I expected did not happen and I couldn’t quit smoking right away. But soon a hostility towards strong drinks, with which I sometimes had problems, and since then I have not used anything stronger than Cahors.

On Sunday, at about 7 o'clock, by train from the Kursky railway station to the Serpukhov station (travel time 1 hour 50 minutes). Immediately behind the station building on the square there is a stop for bus No. 5 (10-15 min).

STEP No. 3 First norm. The speed of running towards death decreases.

After a trip to Serpukhov, I had another conversation with my confessor about smoking, and, quite unexpectedly for me, the priest gave me obedience - to smoke no more than 10 cigarettes a day. Having the habit of smoking at least a pack, and sometimes one and a half, 10 cigarettes a day seemed like an unrealistic number. But there was nothing to do, and to begin with I gave up the first cigarette. It was a ritual morning cigarette on the way to work from the entrance to the bus stop. After some time, I managed to eliminate the second morning cigarette on the way from the metro to my place of work. But then problems began: sometimes I managed not to exceed the norm, but more often it turned out the other way around. Only three months later it was possible to record success at this figure of 10 cigarettes per day.

STEP #4 It turns out there is such a prayer

At the very beginning of “giving up” I was very lucky. On Radio Radonezh, one well-respected priest read a prayer to St. Ambrose of Optina “for deliverance from the passion of smoking,” and I was just recording this program on a tape recorder. I present it in full at the end of my story.
Every day I began to read it several times a day, especially when I really wanted to smoke, and it was still early according to the schedule.
Now about the schedule. I am convinced that it is better and easier to quit smoking with it than without it. You make a certain interval between cigarettes and strictly adhere to it. I also advise you to include a prayer to St. Ambrose of Optina in your morning and evening rules, asking for a blessing from your confessor.

STEP No. 5 “Health Day”

Having read in one Orthodox book that on the day of Holy Communion you should not smoke at all for the reason that particles of Communion may remain on a discarded cigarette butt, I thought hard and decided to try to organize a “Health Day” on the Sunday after Communion. Naturally, he asked for his father’s blessing. After the service (if, of course, you don’t just stand, but try to pray), you actually don’t really want to smoke, but when you get home and have lunch, then it starts to “pull.” Here is the time to resort to prayer to St. Ambrose of Optina, to reading the Gospel and then engage in some all-consuming activities or active recreation, creativity, reading, etc. At the same time, you can chew all sorts of crackers or seeds (pumpkin seeds, in my opinion, are better).
When the first “Health Day” was a success and I went to bed without smoking from sunrise to sunset, the first experience of a new (long forgotten old) life, a long forgotten feeling of purity appeared. Although I was drawn to a cigarette, what I purchased was more expensive.

STEP #6 Schedule (on the wall or on a cabinet)

When I stopped going beyond the “hot ten”, the next obedience from my father was to switch to the norm of 5 cigarettes a day. But since I knew that I had no strength for such a feat, I asked for a blessing for at least 7 cigarettes. And after that he continued to fight. It took another 2 months to get used to this norm. Gradually increasing the intervals between cigarettes, I came to the conclusion that it is best to maintain the norm of 7, and then 5 cigarettes, if the first cigarette is smoked as late as possible.

Fathers of the Church and devotees of piety on smoking

Saint Theophan the Recluse

SMOKING
1. How to look at it
Smoking is a stupid thing; there is as much moral here as there is empty bias and perceived harm. The last two features are difficult for smokers to recognize and difficult to explain to non-smokers.
It is strongly indecent, but decency and indecency, the same as people, change.
Tolerate a bad habit, but don’t turn it into a sin.
Praying for your daughter to lose the habit is a good thing. But there is no need to clothe this in special form. Whenever you pray, cry out to God. And He will arrange it as His holy will pleases. (Issue 8, letter 1230, p. 12)
2. Harm from it
It's good to quit smoking. It is not only empty, but little by little it undermines your health, spoiling your blood and clogging your lungs. This is a gradual poisoning of oneself.

But there is no advice for this and there is no advice, other than to make a stronger decision. There is no other way.
To smoke or not to smoke is a matter of indifference, at least, our and common conscience considers it so.

But when non-smoking is bound by a promise, then it enters into the moral order and becomes a matter of conscience, the failure of which cannot but trouble it. So the enemy has spoiled you. That's right, you had a good talk. The enemy advised you to make a decision, and then led you to break your word. That's the whole story! Please learn and continue to keep your eyes open. Why commit yourself to a vow? You have to say: wait, let me try to quit. God willing, I will do it. Have you ever heard advice from the holy elders: not to bind yourself to a vow? This is exactly the kind of thing it concerns. (Issue 2, letter 369, p. 240)

Venerable Ambrose of Optina

“You write that you cannot stop smoking tobacco. What is impossible with man is possible with the help of God: you just have to firmly decide to leave, recognizing the harm it causes to soul and body; since tobacco weakens the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with a slow death. Irritability and melancholy are a consequence of the pain of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins from the age of seven and throughout your entire life, and partake of the Holy Mysteries, and read the Gospel daily, standing, chapter by chapter, or more, and when melancholy sets in, then read again until the melancholy will not pass; will attack again - and read the Gospel again. “Or instead, make 33 large bows in private, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity.”

Tobacco weakens the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys health with a slow death. Irritability and melancholy are a consequence of the pain of the soul from smoking.

Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets

One day, a father whose daughter was very sick visited the Elder and asked for his prayers. Father Paisiy said: “Okay, I’ll pray, but you also do something for the child’s health, if you can’t pray as you should. At least stop smoking, at least force yourself to do this.” And he readily left his cigarettes and lighter right on the stasidia in the Elder’s church.

Saint Nicodemus the Holy Mountain

“If some consider smoking tobacco not to violate the norms of decency and good manners, then let them at least listen to modern ethical philosophers, who very strongly condemn such opinions, rightly asking, in what way is politeness and good manners manifested here? Has anyone seen anything reasonable? Living being, which would smoke a pipe filled with steaming and foul-smelling grass, and would emit whole clouds of fetid tobacco smoke, as if it were a burning stove? In this form, a person is likened to a dragon, and this mythical beast allegorically depicts the devil” (...).

Smoking is a spiritual passion: by nature, smoking is unusual for a person in the same way as, say, eating, drinking, or having a family. We can probably say that smoking is a kind of antipode to prayer. The Holy Fathers call prayer the breath of the soul. Concentrating a person’s mind in himself and in God, it gives him true peace, purification of the mind and heart, a feeling of spiritual strength and vigor. Smoking, associated with the body's breathing, causes surrogates of these feelings. And the very symbol of prayer—smoking fragrant incense—very clearly expresses the opposite of the fragrance of incense—the use of a foul-smelling devil’s potion.”
“During God’s services they burn incense, how come the slaves of sin could not invent some kind of incense? The first is pleasing to God, but the second should be pleasing to God’s enemy—the devil.”

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt

“Instead of the fragrance of incense in churches, the world has invented its own fragrance of tobacco, and diligently fumigates itself with it greedily, almost eats and swallows it, and breathes it, and smokes its entrails and its dwellings with it, produces an aversion to goods

Man has perverted the very pleasures of the senses. For the sense of smell and taste, and partly for the breath itself, he invented and almost constantly burns sharp and odorous smoke, bringing this, as if a constant censer, to the demon living in the flesh, infects the air of his home and the outside air with this smoke, and first of all is saturated with this stench yourself - and here you are, the constant coarsening of your feelings and your heart, constantly absorbed by smoke, cannot but affect the subtlety of heartfelt feeling, it gives it fleshiness, coarseness, sensuality.

Oh, how carefully the devil and the world sow with their tares the field of Christ, which is the Church of God. Instead of the Word of God, the word of the world is diligently sown, instead of incense - tobacco. Poor Christians! They completely fell away from Christ.

Venerable Leo of Optina

…Once among those present there was a man who admitted that he had not fulfilled his elder’s orders. He did not quit smoking, as the Elder ordered him. Father Lev threateningly ordered to take this man out of his cell.

Venerable Silouan of Athos

In 1905, the Athonite elder Silouan spent several months in Russia, often visiting monasteries. On one of these train journeys, he took a seat opposite a merchant, who, with a friendly gesture, opened his silver cigarette case in front of him and offered him a cigarette.
Father Silouan thanked for the offer, refusing to take a cigarette. Then the merchant began to say: “Isn’t it because, father, you refuse because you consider it a sin? But smoking often helps in an active life; It’s good to take a break from the stress of work and rest for a few minutes. It’s convenient to have a business or friendly conversation while smoking and, in general, in the course of life...” And then, trying to convince Father Silouan to take a cigarette, he continued to speak in favor of smoking.

Then, after all, Father Silouan decided to say: “Sir, before you light a cigarette, pray, say one “Our Father.” To this the merchant replied: “Praying before smoking somehow doesn’t work.” Father Silouan responded: “So, any task that is not preceded by unabashed prayer is better not to do.”

Saint Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov)

“Quit your smoky habit! It won’t be easy for you, but don’t rely on yourself: call on God for help and for God at once - certainly right away - cut off the evil!”

“Did A. give up his smoky habit? And if he follows it even secretly, it will not be good. I wish him to win victory over the worthless grass and smoke."

“Is it permissible for the minister of the Christian altar to bring stench to it at the unnatural whim of the consumed poisonous herb, and should not the one preparing for this service first beware so as not to leave in himself a habit incompatible with the dignity of the service?”

Priest Alexander Elchaninov

From letters to youth
The baseness and vulgarity of the motives of those who start smoking are to be like everyone else, the fear of ridicule, the desire to give themselves weight. At the same time - the psychology of a coward and a swindler. Hence the alienation from family and friends. Aesthetically, this is vulgarity, especially unbearable for girls. Psychologically, smoking opens the door to everything prohibited and vicious.

Smoking and any kind of anesthesia overshadow our sense of purity and chastity. The first cigarette is the first fall, the loss of purity. It is not false puritanism, but a direct feeling and deep conviction of this that prompts me to tell you this. Ask anyone who smokes - undoubtedly, the beginning of smoking was in some sense a downfall for him.”

Metropolitan of Moscow Macarius (Nevsky)

“An addiction to one will entail an addiction to another: from smoking tobacco a young man turns to wine; from one glass of wine - to drunkenness; from wine to cards and other passionate games; from here - to idleness, to theft, to robbery; and from here the road to the prison.

Are we, approaching the new century, already standing on an inclined plane, about to roll down it irrevocably? Have we, the children of the nineteenth century, really gone so far in disdain for the good old and holy customs that the twentieth century will not give us or our descendants a return to these good customs? Is it possible that the zealots of piety have lost hope of ever seeing the leading people of our Christian society living the same life with the simple, but kind and, for the most part, pious people, with their churches, with their posts, with their holy antiquity?

***
The Patristic tradition tells about an ascetic of piety who labored during the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. This schema-monk once had a vision of an unclean spirit, who said that soon people would burn incense with their mouths to him (the unclean one). The ascetic wrote: “Will people put coals in their mouths?” The demons testify to the same thing now: “Smokers have not only my smoke, but also fire” - From the notes of Hieromonk Panteleimon.

Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy)

Apocalypse of petty sin

But I have this against you, that you left your first love. (.)

A petty sin, like tobacco, has become such a habit of human society that society provides it with all sorts of conveniences. Where can you find cigarettes! Everywhere you can find an ashtray, everywhere there are special rooms, carriages, compartments - “for smokers”. It would not even be an exaggeration to say that the whole world is one huge room, or rather one huge carriage in the interstellar spheres: “for smokers.” “They smoke”—everyone sins petty and calmly: old and young, sick and healthy, learned and simple... Before execution, the criminal is allowed to smoke a cigarette. As if there is not enough air in the earth’s atmosphere, or it is too fresh, you need to create some kind of smoky, poisonous air for yourself and breathe, breathe this poison, revel in this smoke. And so everyone gets drunk. So much so that a “non-smoker” is almost as rare as “never lies”, or “doesn’t rise above anyone”... The tobacco market is one of the most significant in world trade, and every year millions of people work to provide opportunity for other millions and millions - to inhale acrid smoke, to anaesthetize their heads and entire bodies.

Is it in human nature to commit the petty, narcotic sin of “smoking”? The question itself seems strange. Is it human nature to go against nature? Is it natural to drug yourself? Governments prohibit the enjoyment of cocaine, but encourage it with tobacco. Minor sins are permitted by human law; they do not lead to prison. Everyone is guilty of them, and no one wants to throw stones at them. Tobacco, like “little cocaine,” is permitted, like little lies, like unnoticeable untruths, like killing a person in the heart or in the womb. But that is not what the Revelation of God says—the will of the Living God. The Lord does not put up with a little lie, not a single murderous word, not a single adulterous look. The small grass of iniquity is as accursed before the Lord as the great tree of crime. Many small falls into sin are undoubtedly heavier for a person’s soul than several great ones, which are always remembered and can always be removed in repentance. And a saint, of course, is not one who does great deeds, but who refrains from even the smallest crimes.

It is easier to start a fight against great sin, it is easier to hate its approach. There is a well-known case with the righteous Anthony of Murom. Two women came to him: one lamented her one great sin, the other smugly testified to her innocence in any great sins[1]. Having met the women on the road, the elder ordered the first to go and bring him a large stone, and the other to pick up some smaller stones. A few minutes later the women returned. Then the elder said to them: “Now take and put these stones exactly in the places where you took them from.” The woman with the large stone easily found the place; where she took the stone, the other circled in vain, looking for nests of her small stones, and returned to the old man with all the stones. The perspicacious Anthony explained to them that these stones express... For the second woman, they expressed numerous sins to which she was accustomed, considered them for nothing and never repented of them. She did not remember her petty sins and outbursts of passion, and they expressed the joyless state of her soul, incapable of even repentance. And the first woman who remembered her sin was sick of these sins and removed it from her soul.

Many small, unworthy habits are mud for a person’s soul if he affirms them in himself or recognizes them as an “inevitable” evil, against which it is “not worth” and “impossible” to fight. This is where the soul falls into the trap of the enemy of God. “I am not a saint,” “I live in the world,” “I must live like other people” ... - the aching conscience of a believer calms itself. Man, man, of course, you are not a saint, of course, you “live in the world” and “must live like all people”, and therefore - be born like all people; die like them, look, listen, speak like them, but why would you break the Law of God - “like them”? Why would you morally not smell so fragrant “like them”? Think about it, man.
How difficult it is for the soul to move from a false but habitual thought. The psychology of this atheistic world has become so deeply ingrained in the mental world of modern man that in relation to sin and crimes against God’s Laws, almost all people act in the same way - “according to the cliché.” The saddest thing is that evil has inspired people to call the demands of sin “the demands of nature.”

The requirement of nature is to breathe, eat in moderation, keep warm, devote part of the day to sleep, but do not narcotize your body in any way, it is pointless to become attached to a mirage, to smoke.
After all, one has only to honestly think about this question, and evil itself floats to the surface of conscience. But the fact of the matter is that to modern man there is no time to think about the only important question concerning not this small 60-70 year life, but the eternity of its immortal existence in new, great conditions. Absorbed in a completely misunderstood “practice,” modern man, immersed in his practical, earthly life, thinks that he is really “practical.” A sad delusion! At the moment of his inevitable (always very close to him) so-called death, he will see with his own eyes how little practical he was, reducing the matter of practice to the needs of his stomach and completely forgetting his spirit.

In the meantime, a person really “has no time” to think about the elementary moral laws of his life. And, poor man, he himself suffers unspeakably from this. Like a child who constantly touches the fire and cries, humanity incessantly touches the fire of sin and lust, and cries and suffers, but again and again touches... not understanding its state of spiritual childhood, which in the Gospel is called “blindness,” and there is real blindness of the heart in the presence of physical eyes.

Humanity kills itself through sin, and every person does the same. Overwhelmed, agitated by evil, unbridled by lower instincts, humanity is preparing a terrible fate for itself, like every person who follows this path. Those who sow the wind will reap the storm. And over this, over the only important thing - “there is no time” to think... “Live for the moment”, “what will be, will be” - the soul brushes aside the truth itself, inside it telling it that it needs to enter into itself, concentrate, examine the attachments of its heart and think about your eternal fate. The Creator of the world ordered man to take care only of the day; the world tells us to care only “about the moment,” plunging a person into a sea of ​​worries about his whole life!

The topic of the morally small is not small at all. Here is a reflection of God's apocalyptic reproach to the Christian world that it has “forgotten its first love.” How much purer and morally superior to man is now even the shaken nature from which his body was created. How pure is a stone, ready to cry out against people who do not give glory to God, how pure are flowers and trees in their wonderful circle of life, how magnificently submissive are the animals to the Law of the Creator in their purity. God's nature does not smoke, does not take drugs, does not debauch, does not poison the God-given fruit. Wordless nature teaches a person how to bear the Cross of obedience to God amid all the storms and sufferings of this life. A person needs to think about this.
Some people think that everything that happens here on earth will have no consequences. For a person with a guilty conscience, of course, it’s more pleasant to think this way. But why deceive yourself? Sooner or later you will have to see the dazzling mystery of the purity of the universe.

We experience ourselves as “life”. Do we really regard ourselves so petty and understand so shallowly the One who created the worlds in order to think of this earthly bustle of life as human existence? We are much more and higher than what we are accustomed to consider here, on the naked earth, not only as our lives, but even as our ideals. But we are: a grain placed in the ground. And therefore, we are now unable to see the surface of the universe, that true picture of nature that will open to Our eyes at the moment of so-called death, i.e. very soon for everyone.

What is death? Death is not a coffin at all, not a canopy, not a black bandage on an arm, not a clay grave. Death is when the sprout of our life crawls out to the surface of the earth and stands under the direct rays of God's sun. The grain of life must die and germinate here, in the earth. This is the so-called “birth in the spirit” in the Gospel, the “second birth” of a person. The death of the body is the leaving of a sprout of the earth, an exit from the earth. For every person who has received even the smallest spiritual leaven, even the most insignificant gospel pearl “inside himself,” what awaits him is not death at all, and even far from death. For those who are dead in spirit, of course, coffins, graves, black bands are all realities. And their spirit will not be able to come to the surface of true life, for they did not die on earth for themselves, for their sins.

Like an egg, we are closed from the other world by a thin shell of the body. And our shells break one after another... Blessed is the person who turns out to be a living organism, formed for future life. The state of someone who turns out to be a formless liquid is worthy of crying... and may even be disgusting in its moral smell!

Here on earth, we are truly in the darkness of the spirit, in its “womb”. And is it really not criminal, being in such a state, not to prepare for your real birth, but to consider your darkness as either an ideal, extremely joyful place of life (as optimistic atheism believes), or an incomprehensible place of meaningless suffering (as pessimistic atheism believes)?
The meaning, of course, is not visible to physical eyes, but it is very easy, more than easy to believe in it, after thinking about yourself and the Gospel. All nature screams about this meaning; Every awakened human soul begins to scream about him.

How carefully all of us, “non-sprouted” people, must treat each other... How we must protect this germination in each other, this exit into the free air, under God’s sun!
Man is terribly responsible for everything, and it is difficult to theoretically imagine the misfortune of that person who, having lived atheistically on earth “as if nothing existed,” suddenly finds himself face to face with a reality not only brighter than this earth of ours, but even superior all our concepts of reality... Didn’t the Lord suffer for these souls in the Garden of Gethsemane? In any case, he accepted the suffering of the Cross for them too.

If the visible heaven did not separate us from the invisible heaven, we would shudder at those inconsistencies of spirit that exist between the angelic triumphant church and our earthly church, almost non-militant, flabby human souls. We would be horrified and would clearly understand the truth that is incomprehensible to us now: what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us and what He does for each of us. We imagine his salvation almost theoretically, abstractly. But when would we see, on the one hand, the snow-white hosts of lightning-ray pure spirits, fiery, fiery, burning with unimaginable love for God and striving for the salvation of all creation, and, on the other hand, would we see the earth with its hundreds of millions of half-people, half- insects, with hearts directed only to the earth, people devouring each other, proud, voluptuous, money-loving, intractable, possessed by dark forces clinging to them, we would be horrified and trembled. And we would be presented with a clear picture of the absolute impossibility of salvation by “natural” means.

The reasoning of occultists about the evolutionary movement of reincarnating humanity would seem upward to us, in best case scenario, crazy. We would see that the darkness over humanity is not thinning, but is thickening... And we would understand what the Creator incarnate on their earth did for people. We would see how ears of corn, even with one grain, are taken to heaven by the heavenly reapers, that the slightest spark of Christ already saves this person. They would cover up everything dark with an unimaginable love for God and strive for the salvation of all creation, and, on the other hand, they would see the earth with its hundreds of millions of half-people, half-insects, with hearts directed only to the earth, people devouring each other, selfish, voluptuous, money-loving, intractable, possessed by dark forces clinging to them, we would be horrified and trembled. And we would be presented with a clear picture of the absolute impossibility of salvation by “natural” means.

The reasoning of occultists about the evolutionary movement of reincarnating humanity in man is like a single grain in a spikelet nods, is cut off, only one spark is taken, and it becomes the eternal life of a person. Glory to the salvation of Christ! Truly, we have nothing in ourselves except our human dignity lying in the dust. And from this dust we arise by the grace of Christ and are carried into heaven as a spark. But we are carried away if this spark of love for God has been lit in us, if we are able to push our soul away from everything mortal in the world, are able to notice this mortal in the slightest, and also push it away from ourselves. Sensitivity to the smallest things in ourselves will be an indicator of the health of our soul. If atoms actually contain precise solar systems, then this is the ty of all sin: small and large.
The conversation about the need to reject even the smallest sin leads us to the most important question human life: the question of life after death.

The revelation of the Church asserts that a soul that has not been freed from one passion or another will transfer this passion to the other world, where, due to the absence of a body (before the resurrection), it will be impossible to satisfy this passion, which is why the soul will remain in the constant languor of self-combustion, an incessant thirst for sin and lust without opportunities to satisfy her.
The gastronome, who in his earthly life only thought about food, will undoubtedly suffer after his death, deprived of carnal food, but not deprived of the spiritual thirst to strive for it. The drunkard will be incredibly tormented, not having a body that can be satisfied by pouring alcohol, and thus a little calm the tormented soul for a while. The fornicator will experience the same feeling. A money lover too... A smoker too.

Easy to do experience. Let the smoker not smoke for two or three days. What will he experience? A certain torment, softened by all the relationships and entertainments of life. But take away life with its entertainments... Suffering will worsen. It is not the body that suffers, but the soul living in the body, accustomed to satisfying its lust, its passion through the body. Deprived of satisfaction, the soul suffers. This is how, of course, the soul of a rich sinner suffers, suddenly deprived of wealth, a lover of peace, deprived of peace, the soul of a proud person, who has received a blow to his pride... How many suicides have occurred on this basis! All this is experience, the bare experience of our earthly life. Already here on earth, we can perform experiments on our soul. Every person should be far-sighted. You need to protect your home from undermining ().

Feeling this, is it really possible to calmly indulge in passions or even divide them into serious and “innocent”? After all, fire is still fire - both a blast furnace and a burning match. Both are painful for the person touching them and can be fatal. We need to understand this undoubted truth that every passion, every malice, every lust is fire.

God's Law has placed the instincts of the human body within a framework, and gives true direction to the strong-willed and irritable energies of the soul, so that a person can comfortably and easily move toward spiritualization. What to call that person who, understanding all this, treats his passions calmly and frivolously, excuses them, lulling all signs of saving sensitivity in his soul.
We must, first of all, stop justifying our lust - even the slightest, we must condemn it before God and ourselves. We must pray for deliverance, for salvation. Savior The Lord is called a savior not in the abstract, but in reality. The Savior saves from all weaknesses and passions. He delivers. He heals. Absolutely visible, tangible. Heals, forgives. Forgiveness is the healing of what needs to be forgiven. It is given only to those who hunger and thirst for this truth. Those who simply want, smoldering in their desire, are not given healing. It is given to those who have a burning, flaming, begging, striving heart. For only such people are able to appreciate the gift of God’s healing, not trample it and give thanks for it, and sensitively protect in the Name of the Savior from new temptations of evil.

Of course, smoking is a very small lust, just as a match is a small fire. But this lust is also repugnant to the spirit, and it is impossible to even imagine any of the Lord’s closest disciples smoking cigarettes.

“Destroy small lusts,” say the saints. There is no acorn that does not contain an oak tree. So it is with sins. The small plant is easily weeded out. The big one requires special tools to eradicate it.

The spiritual meaning of smoking and all the small “justifiable” illegalities of the spirit is licentiousness. Not only the body, but also the soul. This is a false reassurance of oneself (one’s “nerves,” as they sometimes say, not fully realizing that nerves are a carnal mirror of the soul). This “calming” leads to an ever greater distance from true peace, from the true consolation of the Spirit. This reassurance is a mirage. Now - while there is a body - it must be constantly renewed. Afterwards, this narcotic calm will be a source of painful captivity of the soul.

You need to understand that someone who “takes out” his anger, for example, also “calms down.” But, of course, only until a new attack of anger. You cannot calm yourself down by satisfying your passion. You can calm yourself down only by resisting passion, by refraining from it. You can calm yourself down only by carrying the Cross of struggle against every passion, even the smallest, the Cross of its rejection into your heart. This is the path of true, solid, faithful and - most importantly - eternal happiness. Rising above the fog, he sees the sun and an eternal blue sky. He who rises above passions enters the sphere of the world of Christ, indescribable bliss that begins here on earth and is available to every person.

Mirage happiness is a cigarette. The same as being angry with someone, being proud of someone, painting your cheeks or your lips for people, stealing a small piece of sweets - a small penny from the church dish of God's nature. There is no need to look for such happiness. Their direct, logical continuation: cocaine, hitting a person in the face or shooting him, counterfeiting value. Blessed is the man who, having found such happiness, pushes it away with righteous and holy anger. This demonic happiness reigning in the world is a harlot who has invaded the marriage of the human soul with Christ, the God of Truth and pure blissful joy.
Any consolation outside the Spirit of the Holy Comforter is that insane temptation on which the organizers of human paradise build their dreams. The Comforter is the Creative Spirit of the Truth of Christ alone.

It is impossible to pray in spirit while smoking a cigarette. It is impossible to preach while smoking a cigarette. Before entering the temple of God, a cigarette is thrown away... but the temple of God is us.
Whoever wants to be a temple of God every minute will throw away the cigarette, like any false thought, any unclean feeling. The attitude towards a small spiritual movement in oneself is a thermometer of the fervor of a person’s faith and his love for God.

One can imagine such a life example: tobacco, as a plant, has no evil in it (like gold dust, like cotton from which banknotes are made). Apricot is God's plant. Alcohol can be very beneficial to the human body at certain moments and in certain doses, without at all contradicting the spirit, like moderate tea or coffee. Wood, the material from which furniture is made, everything is God's... But now let's take these terms in the following combination: a man is lounging in an easy chair and smoking a Havana cigar, every minute sipping from a glass of apricotine standing next to him... Can this person in such a state carry on a conversation? about the Living God - say a prayer to the Living God? Physically - yes, spiritually - no. Why? Yes, because this man is now dissolute, his soul has drowned in an armchair, and in a Havana cigar, and in a glass of apricotine. At this moment he has almost no soul. He, like the prodigal son of the Gospel, wanders “in distant lands.” This is how a person can lose his soul. People lose it all the time. And it’s good if he finds it again all the time, fights so as not to lose it, trembles over his soul, as over his beloved baby. The soul is the baby of immortality, defenseless and pitiful in the conditions of the world around us. How you need to press your soul to your chest, to your heart, how you need to love it, destined for eternal life. Oh, how you need to clean even the slightest stain from it!

Now an example was presented of the impossibility of preserving one’s soul by voluptuously distributing it among surrounding objects: armchairs, cigars, liquor. The example taken is especially colorful, although there are even more colorful ones in life. But if you take not a colorful one, but a gray one, but of the same licentious spirit, everything will remain the same atmosphere, in which it would be a lesser sin to remain silent about Christ than to speak about Him. This is the answer to why the world is silent about Christ, why neither on the streets, nor in salons, nor in friendly conversations do people talk about the Savior of the Universe, about the One Father of the world, despite the many people who believe in Him.

It is not always a shame to talk about God in front of people; Sometimes before God it is a shame to talk about Him to people. The world instinctively understands that in the environment in which it finds itself all the time, it is less of a sin to remain silent about Christ than to speak about him. And so people are silent about God. A terrible symptom. The world is flooded with legions of words, the human language is obsessed with these empty legions, and - not a word, almost not a word about God, about the Beginning, the End and the Center of everything.

For to speak about God is to immediately expose oneself and the whole world. And if the word about God is nevertheless spoken, it is difficult to finish it - both in front of oneself and in front of the world.

If a person does not have disgust for his small sins, he is spiritually unhealthy. If there is disgust, but “there is no strength” to overcome the weakness, it means that it is left until the person shows his faith in the fight against something more dangerous for him than this weakness, and it is left to him for humility. For there are many people who are seemingly blameless, who do not drink or smoke, but are like, in the words of Climacus, “a rotten apple,” that is, filled with obvious or secret pride. And there is no way to humble their pride except by some kind of fall. But those who, for one reason or another, “allow” themselves minor sins will remain outside the Kingdom of God and its laws. Such a person, “putting his conscience to sleep,” becomes unable to cross the line of the true life of the spirit. He always remains like a young man approaching Christ and immediately leaving him with sadness, or even sometimes without sadness, but just to... “smoke”!

Rigorism and puritanism are alien to the evangelical spirit. Pharisee righteousness without love is darker in the eyes of God than any sin. But the lukewarmness of Christians in fulfilling the commandments is just as dark. Both those who practice Pharisees and those who trade and smoke in the temple of God are equally expelled from the temple.
For the will of God is “our sanctification” (1. Thess. 4, 3). A sensitive conscience itself will sharpen its vision to detect that alien dust that lies on the wounds of the soul.
The Son of God and the Son of Man gave us one commandment for thirst: “Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In it, the Lord seems to say: People, I do not give you a measure - determine it yourself. Determine for yourself the measure of your love for My purity and your obedience to this love.

Prayer Venerable Ambrose of Optina

About getting rid of the passion of smoking

Reverend Father Ambrose, you, having boldness before the Lord, beg the Greatly Gifted Master to give me ambulance in the fight against impure passion.
God! Through the prayers of Your saint, Venerable Ambrose, cleanse my lips, discipline my heart and fill it with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit, so that the evil tobacco passion will run far away from me, back to where it came from, into the belly of hell.

Troparion, tone 5

Like a healing source, we flow to you, Ambrose, our father, for you faithfully instruct us on the path of salvation, protect us from troubles and misfortunes with prayers, comfort us in bodily and mental sorrows, and, moreover, teach us humility, patience and love, pray to Christ the Lover of Mankind and Intercessor Eager to save our souls.

Kontakion, tone 2

Having fulfilled the covenant of the Chief Shepherd, you inherited the grace of the elders, your heart aching for all those who flow to you with faith. Likewise, we, your children, cry out to you with love: Holy Father Ambrose, pray to Christ God to save our souls.

Despite the "nationwide wellness programs”, bans on smoking in public places and the sale of tobacco to minors, there are no fewer “serious” smokers. Those who are truly addicted to nicotine cannot be stopped by propaganda methods. But our topic today does not concern the topics: “Smoking kills”, “Smoking leads to infertility” and “is the cause cancer diseases" Let's talk about how parental smoking affects children.

Physical effects of smoking on a child

In terms of conservation children's health The question of smoking by his parents and other adults directly next to the child is clear: This irreparable harm ! Let's begin with Not smoking parents , indeed, much Smokers are more likely to be fertile. Women have the opportunity to become pregnant (according to some scientific research last decade) directly depends on the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Those who quit smoking, within a few months (in the absence of other diseases and abnormalities), the ability to bear children is restored.

Pregnant women should not smoke either. Because the fetus breathes “mother’s” air. And while indulging in your bad habit, the level of oxygen reaching the unborn baby drops sharply. Hypoxia begins or, simply, suffocation. The more often the expectant mother smokes, the more the baby suffers.

The consequences of smoking for children are numerous and depressing.

• delay in physical characteristics at birth (weight, height, head circumference);
• birth long before term;
• mental disabilities, etc.

The child was born, the mother continues to smoke. Should I feed no matter what or should I immediately switch to formula milk? These and dozens more questions are worth Discuss this honestly with your gynecologist and with the doctor who will monitor your baby.

Passive smoking causes enormous harm to children's health.

• again: weight gain slowed down(which is fundamentally important for a child in the first year of life: all the main indicators of the baby’s development depend on compliance with weight standards);
• psychophysical development also “lags behind” peers: turning over, sitting down, crawling, etc. The child masters it later than expected;
• may develop asthma;
• And dermatitis;
• head ones pain, bad dream, night and ;
• children of smoking parents are more susceptible bronchitis, pneumonia, all kinds of pulmonary diseases.

Having sorted out the influence of smoking on the physiological development of a child, let’s talk about the “spiritual”.

Parental smoking and its psychological impact on the child

Children (normal) love parents passionately, free of charge and not always deservedly. They idealize them, almost deify. In everything. One of the “trends” of modern pedagogy is raising children by example(including for teachers at school). If dad/mom smokes, the child subconsciously believes that it's right that it should be so. And, no matter how much you tell him about the dangers of nicotine, no matter how much you prohibit him as a teenager, it will all be in vain. Your daily smoking is more colorful than all the soul-saving conversations in the world.

Some parents " smoking secretly": they hide, leave the house, run away on walks “into the bushes.” Believe me: children are much more attentive, sensitive and understanding than adults think about them! Sooner or later the baby will understand everything and ask: “Mom (dad), why do you smoke?” And you will have to

For a person, without any dependence on gender and age, they say a lot and often. Cigarette addiction can easily be called the scourge of our time. Doctors regularly publish sad statistics regarding the morbidity associated with this bad habit and clearly explain what it leads to. But every smoker naively believes that such consequences will not affect him, not even suspecting that he already has a number of troubles, just waiting for their time!

The sages said: “A woman who gives the world a child becomes triple responsible: 1. For herself, because the child needs her. 2. For the child, because it is her flesh. 3. For the society into which he will join.” Constantly busy fathers and mothers do not always think about the basic components that form the beginning of personality formation. Every third child (out of ten) grows up in a family where one of its members smokes cigarettes, and every seventh is raised by smokers.

What is the danger for the baby?

Parents who smoke do not even suspect how much they are endangering the young body of their child. There are two facets to this problem. Psychologists present them this way:

– The notorious selfishness, and not the desire to bear full responsibility for the life and health of his offspring. We are not talking about complex families. Ordinary average mothers and fathers do not want to give up their addiction in favor of their own well-being and the health of their children. They find hundreds of reasons to justify these actions. This is the moral side of the issue.

- Late reaction. Gradually injuring the body and exacerbating the “bouquet of diseases,” the decision is made spontaneously, like a doctor’s verdict and an obsessive desire to live. By taking themselves to the extreme and giving up a cigarette, people rethink their stubbornness and good advice. Physical health is one of the dominant arguments.

It is important to understand that until the age of six, children have authorities only in the person of their beloved mother and father. Even if the parents smoke, the baby does not regard this fact as a disadvantage. This becomes the norm of his family, reality and normal reality. He is like a sponge, absorbing all the actions, actions and habits of moms and dads. Of course, sometimes it looks funny. But if the consequences of a funny son or daughter imitating dad with a cigarette weren’t so sad.

Cigarette harm

If parents smoke, then their children are forced to become hostages of the situation. Penetrating into a child's body, smoke, like a charger, has the function of accumulating, and then bulging with incredible force and manifesting itself as:

– Diseases of the respiratory system of varying severity. Elementary colds primarily provoke pneumonia and bronchitis.

– Otitis and deafness.

– Decrease protective functions and immunity. Children with smoking parents become frequent patients in the ENT department. This trend is growing into chronic condition, and as teenagers age, they lose their hearing.

– Neurobiological changes. Aggressiveness and mental disorders can become companions in the lives of such families.

– Anemia is a common factor in preschoolers, whose loved ones are not deprived of this harmful habit.

– Oncology is detected in pediatric patients 1.5 times more often as a result of passive smoking.

Medical research are often carried out to study the effect of cigarette smoke on unformed children's organisms. Scientists summarize the sad statistics:

– The harm of parental addiction can take its toll over time. Smoke monotonously depletes the walls of the brain vessels. Such schoolchildren's memory deteriorates, children are unable to clearly formulate thoughts, and have weak intelligence.

– A large number of harmful substances are addictive. Passive smoking remains the source of the development of an allergic reaction, which turns into asthma.

The psychological state of a child’s health is the result of parental attitudes

Love and care are serious factors that help a baby grow up surrounded by reverent feelings. But provide it healthy image life means starting with yourself and your cigarette addiction. To ensure full-fledged prosperous growth, it is necessary to take into account three important aspects:

– Taking care of your health.

- Living conditions.

– The moral component of the educational process.

The negative qualities of cigarettes in each of their groups have their own negative keys. The harmful substances that make up cigarette smoke include:

– Nicotine, which, according to American scientists, is a soft drug. Causes dizziness and nausea. This substance is addictive and requires constant escalation (increasing dosages). Rapid addiction causes early smoking among children adolescence. It is not removed from cells, but has a cumulative effect. Affects the cardiovascular system.

– Hydrocyanic acid – strong poisonous substance. One of the most toxic chemical elements. It settles on the walls of the lungs, gradually deforming them and reducing activity. Shortness of breath and lack of oxygen - faithful companions passive and active smoker.

– Lead, known for its severe consequences. It not only poisons, but kills human organs.

– Formaldehyde reduces the functioning of the nervous system of the brain and is considered a source of tumor formation.

The list of poisons included in cigarettes reaches 4 thousand units. This is a real cocktail for self-destruction of yourself and your close circle!

Is addiction an example to follow?

Unfortunately, this reality was shown latest research. Every second teenager tries to smoke for two reasons:

– Interest caused personal example loved ones. The psychology is simple - if your loved ones are prone to tobacco, then it is not harmful! When lecturing your offspring with a cigarette butt in your mouth, you should not expect an educational result. The effect will definitely be the opposite.

– Nicotine addiction. Smoking household members provoked him to such actions as the need for nicotine. The body received it in small doses, like passive smoker and developed a demand strategy.

Problems of nursing mothers - smokers

Smoking causes serious problems for women and infants during breastfeeding. When he smokes, with mother's milk baby gets large dose nicotine This is what is dangerous for babies. Its harm consists of:

– When absorbed into milk, all useful elements important for the baby are destroyed.

– Lactation decreases and leads to early burnout. The mother runs the risk of leaving the baby without breast milk and transferring her to artificial nutrition.

– Nicotine causes cardiac dysfunction and small body pathology develops. Irregular heart rhythm leads to arrhythmia. Child mortality due to heart failure remains in the leading position, according to pediatricians.

– The baby’s sleep is disturbed, he often wakes up and is capricious.

– Appetite decreases, baby loses weight. On early stage doctors diagnose physical defects or dystrophy.

– Gastric – intestinal tract – weak side every newborn, and if the nursing mother smokes, the problem gets worse.

– Addiction oncological diseases and pulmonary failure.

The birth of a child is a bright event in the lives of many people. You shouldn’t darken it with your bad habits, poisoning your happiness and the life of your own baby!

The Ministry of Health constantly warns about the dangers of cigarettes, but rarely does anyone listen to it, thinking that impotence and lung cancer will not affect them. Many smoke for prestige or fashion, while others simply cannot quit, although they are firmly convinced that they simply never really wanted to. But when it comes to family planning, some heavy smokers still quit their addiction, valuing the well-being of their loved ones. Those who still haven’t bothered to step over their lifestyle should know that smoking is harmful to a child, even if he has not yet been born.

Smoking by the father affects both conception and the pregnancy itself, negatively affecting the well-being of the mother and the health of the baby. As for conception, everything is extremely simple. A man who has been smoking for more than one year constantly subjects his body to significant changes, and not for the better. The process of smoking certainly causes vasoconstriction, which helps slow blood circulation. This in turn impairs blood flow to reproductive organ, which is already a big obstacle to simple conception. But as soon as a smoker quits cigarettes, his body begins to recover, including a sharp increase in the chances of normal conception.

Sometimes conception from a smoking father still occurs, but this means that it is necessary to especially carefully protect the life and health of the fetus and the well-being of the expectant mother. Everyone has known for a long time that passive smoking harms no less than active, or even more. If a pregnant woman periodically inhales cigarette smoke, this may well cause the development of all sorts of abnormalities in the development of the fetus. First of all, toxins (the same ones that are always present in cigarette smoke) affect fragile nervous system baby. This means that the child has every chance of contracting diseases such as acute respiratory viral infections and rickets.

The psychological impact of a smoking father on expectant mother- This is another reason why you should quit smoking. Often women feel real discomfort from the smell of cigarettes, including constant nausea and headaches. Distance between spouses is not an option, because pregnancy is a period when a woman needs constant support, help and care. How can someone who tries not to breathe smoke on his wife and pass near him less often help?! Quitting smoking has a beneficial effect on the female psyche, because she truly sees the love and sacrifice of her husband for the sake of their future family together.

Smoking is a destructive addiction in itself, what can we say about the health of an unborn baby. That future father who values ​​his family and makes it the very first priority in life will immediately quit smoking at the first happy news. Well, or at least leave himself a little dubious pleasure exclusively in work time. It’s not for nothing that the Ministry of Health constantly warns us all! It is worth listening to him at least during such significant periods in everyone’s life.