5 Secrets You Need to Tell Your Gynecologist

We're referring to what some of us do most Friday nights.

Reasons to talk about this: It's essential for your gynecologist to know if you smoke, says Streicher, even if you're more of a half-pack-one-night-a-week type than a pack-a-day type. Smoking is one of the main factors that affect whether HPV will progress to a form of cancer, she says. And as you already know (but may have forgotten), smoking is also associated with high risks for blood clots, heart attacks and strokes for women taking hormonal contraception, especially for women over 35. The World Health Organization has estimated that women who smoke cigarettes while taking the pill are 20 times more likely to develop heart disease than nonsmokers.