Study finds men who place laptop computer on lap put testicles at risk of overheating, infertility

Attention guys: it might be time to switch to the iPad. The future of your children could depend on it.

The authors of a study that appeared in the journal Fertility and Sterility this month found that men who balanced a laptop on their nether regions could be putting their ability to reproduce at risk, because the computers heated their scrotums to unsafe temperatures.

In the study, researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 men while they balanced a laptop on their knees.

Even with a pad under the computer, researchers found the men's testicles overheated quickly, Reuters reported.

"Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don't feel it," said Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who led the study.

Sheynkin stressed the test's results do not prove that laptop use impacts men's fertility.

But previous tests have shown that heating the scrotum even slightly is enough to damage sperm.

The researchers found the temperature of the men's testicles rose by up to 2.5 degrees Celsius after working with the computer positioned on their legs.

"I wouldn't say that if someone starts to use laptops they will become infertile," Sheynkin told Reuters.

But frequent use could cause problems, he said, because "the scrotum doesn't have time to cool down."

If found to affect fertility, laptops would join a roster of lifestyle factors like diet, drug use, exercise habits and nutrition that men should monitor in order to keep their reproductive systems healthy.

Personal style, though, is not a threat.

Sheynkin said that tight-fitting jeans and brief-style underwear did not put men at risk for low sperm counts.

With Wire News Services

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