Consultants, bankers, lawyers, and working professionals won\u2019t be surprised by the following: a new study reveals that we spend more time using our smartphones and laptop than we do sleeping.<\/p>\n
Research from a U.K.-based group called Silentnight<\/a> says that the average Brit spends, on average, 8 hours and 41 minutes using communication and media devices, as compared to 8 hours and 21 minutes for sleeping.<\/p>\n Cautionary as they are, those numbers don\u2019t seem all that out of the ordinary — particularly for people with jobs that require constant connection: For instance, lawyers updating divorce settlements and contract language on the fly; investment bankers updating the font size of the pitch deck for the 27th time; and, management consultants generating Harvey Balls all day.<\/p>\n But what about the health effects of using communication devices for a third or more of each day? Specifically as they relate to male fertility?<\/p>\n The news in that respect is almost uniformly negative \u2013 mostly because of the heat generated by portable computers, even though, as a Time magazine<\/em><\/a> article notes, laptops tend to run cooler now than did previous models.<\/p>\n Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, an associate professor of urology at SUNY Stony Brook, coauthored a 2005 study<\/a> on laptops and the heat they produce. He told Time<\/em>, \u201cWe found that, with laptop use, scrotal temperature did increase quite significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, after just 60 minutes of use, scrotal temperature increased roughly 5 degrees Fahrenheit. That\u2019s no small move, given that testicles prefer to be at least two degrees cooler than other parts of the body, according to Dr. Jesse N. Mills<\/a>, an associate clinical professor of urology and director of The Men\u2019s Clinic at UCLA.<\/p>\n In a follow-up study to his own 2005 findings, Sheynkin\u2019s research team further discovered that the way a man sits while using his laptop can also elevate scrotal temperatures \u2013 without taking into account heat generated by the laptop itself.<\/p>\n In the study, \u201cProtection from scrotal hyperthermia in laptop computer users<\/a>\u201d, researchers determined that when men sit with their knees close together \u2013 as often happens when supporting and operating a laptop \u2013 the position winds up trapping heat that raises scrotal temperature.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there are two factors here,\u201d said Sheynkin, \u201cthe heat produced by the laptop and the rising temperature from having the legs together.\u201d<\/p>\n So much for deflecting the effects of laptop heat by positioning it on a pad or pillow instead of directly on the lap. Indeed, the study concluded, \u201cScrotal shielding with a lap pad does not protect from scrotal temperature elevation.\u201d<\/p>\n While there\u2019s no study that directly links laptop use to impaired fertility, people who use a laptop several hours of each day \u2013 particularly while traveling, where there\u2019s little room for repositioning legs or distancing the scrotal area from laptop heat \u2013 clearly run the risk of keeping elevated scrotal temperatures. And, Sheynkin added, \u201c[T]here\u2019s not enough time for it to go back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Other factors that come into play with laptop use include exposure to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), which are produced by cellular devices, including laptops and smartphones, and which have been linked to possible reproductive problems in both males and females.<\/p>\n Ashok Agarwal, a professor of urology and director of the American Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, admitted to Time<\/em> that \u201ca lot of work needs to be done\u201d in this area.<\/p>\n Still, in his 2009 study, \u201cEffects of radiofrequency electromagnetic waves (RF-EMW) from cellular phones on human ejaculated semen<\/a>\u201d, he and his team found that samples exposed to RF-EMW were found to have a marked reduction in sperm motility<\/a> and viability \u2013 terms which refer to swimming ability and expected effectiveness, respectively.<\/p>\n And yet another potential threat posed by extended laptop use, having nothing to do with heat or EMF: Remaining sedentary for longer periods of time isn\u2019t helpful to men who want to conceive<\/a>.<\/p>\n A 2017 study<\/a> indicates that physically active men display better semen parameters.<\/p>\n