Laptops and infertility
All of us laptop using folks know the awkward feeling that spreads in our legs and groin area when we let it sit on our lap a little too long. Much like when we speak a long while on an old mobile phone, we can feel that something is not right. The body is a sensitivity instrument that should be trusted.
Tests have been conducted to measure the effects of temperature changes in the testicles on male fertility. These revealed that temperature changes between 1°C and 2.9°C are associated with considerably negative effects, with sperm count dropping up to 40% for each 1°C increase.
With this background understanding, researchers at the State University of New York set out to study if this feeling of the hot laptop on our laps did indeed indicate health threats. What they found in their 2004 experiment was cause for concern. They found that temperatures in the testicles of the test subjects increased by an average of about 2.8°C after an hour of using a laptop. Combined with knowledge from those previously conducted tests, we have a pretty disturbing picture. Are men losing their fertility from using laptops?
What the scientists say
When a user sets out to use a laptop on his lap, he will close his legs to form a stable surface for the computer. That in itself leads to significant temperature increase, around 2°C the researchers found. When you add a laptop to the equation, a piece of machinery that tends to heat up with prolonged use, the effect on testicle temperature is, as we’ve already seen, further strengthened.
Dr Sheynkin of the State University of New York had this to say about this somewhat grim picture: “The body needs to maintain a proper testicular temperature for normal sperm production and development (spermatogenesis). Portable computers in a laptop position produce scrotal hyperthermia by both the direct heating effect of the computer and the sitting position necessary to balance the computer. The magnitude of scrotal hyperthermia associated with abnormal spermatogenesis is unclear. But, previous studies suggest that 1°C above the baseline is the possible minimal thermal gradient capable of inhibiting spermatogenesis and sperm concentration may be decreased by 40% per 1°C increment of median daytime scrotal temperature.”
“We don’t know the exact frequency and time of heat exposure capable of producing reversible or irreversible changes in spermatogenesis. Studies have shown significant but reversible changes after short-term heating. However, LC produce significant repetitive transient scrotal hyperthermia for years, and insufficient recovery time between heat exposures may cause irreversible or partially reversible changes in male reproductive function.”
The bottom line, are we to believe Dr Sheynkin, is that using laptops right on your lap with some form of protection can destroy, with time, your fertility for good.
In search of solutions to a serious health problem
It’s more or less common knowledge these days that the sperm quality of men is dropping. If you add the hazards of using a laptop, we may find that men in the technologically developed parts of the world became literally unable to conceive children with their partners if this problem goes unchecked. This would be a huge societal problem were solutions to be nonexistent.
Fortunately, solutions exist. Many products have appeared on the market to counter this threat and adding comfort to boot. They come in all shapes and sizes and you can soon read about most of them on this site. Though we recommend the Portapad laptop cushion. It is the most portable, comfortable and convenient of them all. It lets you spread your legs without losing control of your laptop and you can take it with you everywhere. That’s because it’s the only inflatable laptop cushion on the market. Give it try. Your future children will thank you.
