Laptop use can damage sperm

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 November 2010 14:24 Tuesday, 09 November 2010 15:01

If you're reading this on your laptop, you could be frying your balls at the same time. Nice, huh? A new report published in Fertility and Sterility concludes that using your notebook on your lap for long periods of time can lead to reduced sperm quality - and reduced sperm quality means infertility. The tests consisted of 29 men having their scrotal temperatures taken as they balanced notebooks on their laps.

Previous studies have shown that warming the scrotum just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit can damage the sperm. Scrotal hypothermia is the technical term for overheating of the testicles. The bad news is that having your notebook on your lap for just one hour can heat up your scrotum by as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Yelim Sheynkin, a urologist that led the study from the State University of New York at Stony Brook said: "Millions and millions of men are using laptops now, especially those in the reproductive age range. Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don't feel it."

The study says there is little men can do about the problem. They recommend using a laptop on a desk rather than the lap. Even where the men spread their legs at a 70 degree angle and used the notebook on a large pad on their laps, it still took less than 30 minutes for their scrotum to overheat. This suggests that 'cooling' laptop pads do not actually work. "No matter what you do, even with the legs spread wide apart, the temperature is still going to be higher than what we call safe," noted Sheynkin.