If you missed your chance to quit smoking after New Year's and Ash Wednesday, then here is more encouragement. Men who smoke are much more likely to be a disappointment in bed than men who don't.
A new US study released yesterday showed that men getting through a pack or more a day had a 60 per cent higher risk of erectile dysfunction than men who never smoked.
And for those determined to see their sex life go up in smoke, there is a "dose-related" component - the more you smoke the greater your risk of failing to perform.
There was also alarming news for those men with the smug look on their faces who actually managed to kick the habit. Current smokers and former smokers both had a higher risk of dysfunction compared to men who never smoked.
This was not the first study to point up this particular risk associated with smoking, according to Dr Jiang He, associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans.
"However, our study is very unique because it is able to adjust for important dysfunction risk factors, such as blood pressure, serum cholesterol and diabetes."
He presented his findings yesterday in Miami at the 43rd annual American Heart Association conference on cardiovascular disease.
Dr He and colleagues studied data on a survey group involving 4,764 men with an average age of 47. The survey included questions about current smoking status and the quality of sexual relations.
The bad news for smokers started when the researchers eliminated other risk factors, including age, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and conditions such as diabetes. Current smokers had a 31 per cent higher risk of dysfunction compared with non-smokers.
And after all the hard work kicking the habit, former smokers were rewarded with a 35 per cent higher risk of dysfunction than those who never smoked.
Even worse, the more you smoke, the greater the risk of failing as a macho-man.
Those who reported smoking fewer than 10 cigarettes a day had a 16 per cent higher risk of dysfunction compared to men who never smoked.
The risk more than doubled to 36 per cent in those smoking 11 to 20 cigarettes a day. And men smoking 20 cigarettes a day or more had a 60 per cent higher risk of dysfunction compared to their non-smoking brothers.
"This gives male smokers another reason to kick the habit," Dr He concluded.