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Guy Toys & Fertility

Men and electronic gadgets - it seems they go together. With the advent of the laptop computer there has been another dimension added to the male fertility equation. Men who work on their computers while resting them on their laps for long periods of time risk reducing their fertility. The combination of sitting with legs together to balance a laptop along with the heat generated by the computer elevates scrotal temperature up to 2.8 degrees Celsius during use.

The fact that elevated testicular temperature contributes to lowered fertility is well documented. Heat affects sperm quality and that is why would-be fathers are advised to avoid such things as saunas, hot tubs or wearing tight, warm clothing if they are trying to conceive with their partner.

Research Study

Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, team leader of a study at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, New York, says his work indicates that the growing popularity of laptop computers may also be a risk factor for infertility. "It's a unique situation with laptop computers," he says. "This is not a short term, occasional exposure, but a repetitive use of a computer, with the same heat exposure, a couple of times a day for many years, for a whole new generation of men."

Mac Goldstein, a fertility expert at Cornell University Weill Medical College in New York City, New York, says, "It makes perfect sense, but no one had thought about the fertility effect of a hot computer on your lap. It's going to be a very hot topic." 

The hope is that people take note of this study in order to enable researchers to do clinical assessments. The only previous writing on the subject of laptops and male reproductive organs occurred several years ago as the result of a scientist who suffered burns to his penis and scrotum after using a laptop.

The Experiment

Dr. Sheynkin designed a controlled experiment involving healthy male volunteers between the ages of 21 and 35 who were asked to sit in a position consistent with using a laptop for a period of one hour. Some had laptops on some did not. Sensors were taped to their testes and body temperature was taken every three minutes. The body heat from a man's thighs as he sat in a legs together position, without a laptop present, raised the temperature of the scrotum for 2.1 degrees and with the laptop was added, an addition 0.7 degrees was also added.

Former studies have suggested that a temperature raise such as this is enough to affect sperm quality and fertility.