Is your laptop cooking your testicles?

[Guest guest]

Hello everybody .. I'm happy because I have joined to this great group .. On

this occasion, I wanted to tell you topic.. It may be somewhat old but it's very

important.

Whoever invented the 'laptop' probably didn't worry too much about male

reproductive health. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that sitting on your laptop will

crank up the temperature of your nether regions, which could affect sperm

quality. And there is little you can do about it, according to the authors of a

study out in the journal Fertility and Sterility, short of putting your laptop

on a desk.

The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were

putting a laptop on their knees. They found that even with a lap pad under the

computer, the men's scrotums overheated speedily.

" Millions and millions of men are using laptops now, especially those in the

reproductive age range, " said Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State

University of New York at Stony Brook, who led the new study.

" Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we

consider safe, but they don't feel it, " he added.

" So far, no studies have indeed tested how laptops affect men's fertility " , said

Sheynkin, and there is no proof that it would. But research has shown that

warming the scrotum more than one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) is

enough to damage sperm.

In normal circumstances, the testicles' position outside of the body makes sure

they stay a few degrees cooler than the inside of the body, which is necessary

for sperm production.

" I can't say that someone will become infertile if they starts to use laptops "

Sheynkin told Reuters Health. But frequent use might redound to reproductive

problems, he said, because " the scrotum doesn't have time to cool down. "

According to the American Urological Association, about one in six couples in

the US have trouble conceiving a baby, and nearly half the time the man is at

the root of the problem. Also general health and lifestyle factors such as

nutrition and drug use can affect reproductive health. However, Sheynkin said

tight jeans and briefs are generally not deemed a danger factor.

To hold a laptop on your knees, however, you need to sit still with closing your

legs . After one hour in this position, the researchers found that men's

testicle temperature had risen by up to 2.5 degree.

Although a lap pad kept the computer cool and also made sure less heat was

transmitted to the skin, it didn't do much to cool the testicles, and might give

" a false sense of security, " according to Sheynkin. " It doesn't matter what pad

you use, " he said. " You can put a pillow beneath your computer and it still

won't protect you. "

When the men sat with their legs spread wide -- made possible only by placing

the computer on a large lap pad -- they could keep their testicles cooler. But

it still took less than 30 minutes before they began overheating. This proved

that the leg position played a far bigger role.

" 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, " said Sheynkin.

Belkin International, Inc., which sells lap pads and other electronics

accessories, did not want to comment on the new results.

Dr. F. , a urologist at the University of California, San Francisco,

warned that a clear effect of laptop use on fertility had still not been shown,

and that it probably didn't play a big role.

Source:

http://healthy-discoveries.blogspot.com/2010/12/can-your-computer-cook-your-test\

icles.html

And there is more topics about the latest healthy discoveries here:

http://healthy-discoveries.blogspot.com/