is your laptop sautéing your sperm ?

According to ABC Science Online Australia, the heat generated by a laptop warming the scrotum may affect sperm production, potentially creating a generation of men with fertility problems. Judy Skatssoon from ABC says that a study by U.S. researchers in the journal ‘Human Reproduction’ found that laptops increased the temperature of the scrotum by almost 3°C.

According to Skatssoon, Professor Yefim Sheynkin of the State University of New York says that repeated, long-term exposure to laptop-related scrotal hyperthermia, (or over-heating) may impair sperm production, particularly in teenage boys and young men.

ABC Online quotes recent findings as stating that "Frequent use of laptop computers in a laptop position directly exposes the scrotum to the dissipated high internal operating temperature of the machine. In addition, the use of a laptop requires a special body position ... when the scrotum is trapped between closely approximated thighs".

Australian expert in male fertility, Professor Gordon Baker of the University of Melbourne, said he wasn't surprised by an increase in scrotal temperature after using a laptop, but was unsure about the risks to fertility.

"The bottom of the laptops are fairly warm and I can imagine that if you rest it on there you would cause this sort of thing to occur," he said. "There are a lot of other heat exposures that people encounter ... it's difficult to show direct evidence that they actually cause impairment of sperm production."

The study involved 29 men aged between 21 and 35, and researchers said after one hour the average increase in temperature in the left and right side of the scrotum in men working with laptops was 2.6°C and 2.8°C respectively.

Some studies suggest an increase of just 1°C is enough to suppress sperm production. The frequency and duration of heat exposure needed to impair sperm production was not known but the study recommended teenage boys and young men should limit use of their laptops.

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