Gadgetory

do you sit with your laptop on your lap or are you more of a desk person I'm almost always at a desk working but sometimes I decide to work for my couch or bed and in those cases my laptop sits on my lap I do worry though could my laptop be killing my eggs maybe if you're a dude is it affecting your sperm I really don't know so of course I took my questions to some experts laptop you shouldn't have any negative impact on fertility that's dr. John Emory an endocrinologist at the University of Washington Medical Center who specializes in male fertility and dr. Sarah Vaughan and OBGYN an infertility fellow at Stanford says the same thing about fertility for women at this point there haven't been enough real definitive studies for us to recommend patients again using lab that all right so if this is the case why are we all so worried about these laptops people's main concerns when it comes to laptops our external heat and radiation let's talk about Heat first because that's real radiation isn't really a thing but we'll get into it so women in men's bodies handle heat differently men's testicles around the outside of the body because they're sensitive to temperature and require a cooler environment for sperm production dr. Michael Eisenberg a urologist and professor at Stanford explain to me how the heat a laptop produces could affect the male body testicles are outside the body because need to be a little cooler than the rest of the body so anything that warms a moment can be an issue and laptops can certainly do that he cited an older study that showed the laptops could raise the testicle temperature a centigrade but that was a long time ago and laptops have improved since then still and generally tell men to kind of avoid it dr. Eisenberg isn't super worried about laptops and their effect on sperm but if someone struggles with fertility it might be worth eliminating even the smallest of risk factors so it's unlikely that laptop is gonna be the whole story but as ganas work and I'm putting together our plan to sort of improve things it can be one component both he and dr. Emory brought up an issue with hot tubs they say that studies show that a man sitting in 110 degree hot tub for 30 minutes will experience a decrease in their sperm count the temperature affects their testicles and because sperm takes two to three months to make they might not see the results of this issue until months later but dr. emre says that's extreme heat for a prolonged period your laptop doesn't get up to 110 degrees temperatures that you would achieve having a laptop even if it were close enough to your testicles and most laptops I'm patting my thighs but mostly the laptop from their side the amount of radiant heat that goes is delivered to the testicles as well below that though I would say myth for women their ovaries which house their eggs are inside the bodies that insulates them from external heat factors they can sit in a hot tub and not worry about the state of their eggs although pregnant women should not sit in hot tubs but the ovaries unlike the testicles are not external they're very much internal they're very much protected by the abdomen in the pelvis in a way that testicles are not so I don't worry too much about the theoretical risk it's certainly not something that I bring up with patients doctors even recommend that women use heating pads when they have cramps during their period so laptops heat wont negatively affect them in fact maybe it could even help with cramps maybe because the ovaries are just so protected and they eat you know that we use from heating pads has been used for a very long time again these recommendations change once a woman is pregnant dr. Vaughn notes that pregnant women shouldn't put direct heat over the baby which kind of seems like common sense but you know I gotta clarify I don't want any of you pregnant we've been putting heat on your baby so please do not do that okay so the heat from laptops won't affect women's eggs and probably won't really affect men's sperm although dr. Eisenberg still says men should use a desk if they're extremely worried what about radiation the amount of radiation that you can get from a laptop is really pretty minimal it's probably about the same amount of radiation you would get flying across the country that's right you're exposed to some radiation when you fly and you're fine healthy human dr. Vaughn said something along the same lines but my guess is that laptops emit radiation that's probably on the level of radiation that you just get exposed to and you're in the world she also said women are allowed to have x-rays even when they're pregnant so a laptop can't be worse than that you're probably fine dr. Eisenberg though is always worried I certainly talked to men about it's sort of a theoretical risk and again as we're looking at kind of the whole picture it may contribute somewhat so I certainly if it's easy and they can do it it's probably better or laptop to be on a desk rub and in a lot he basically sees it as why risk it we don't think men's sperm will be destroyed by a laptop on their lap but it's also not that hard to just use a test really what you really need to worry about our actual come behaviors that effects birth there are other threats to male fertility that are much less esoteric and laptop we know that you know drug use particularly opiate will decrease reproduction you know marijuana is an issue for male fertility you know alcoholism it's not great for fertility I'll probably keep using my laptop on my lap because my eggs are nice and safe tucked into my body there chillin they're doing great but if you worry about your fertility or have experienced issues particularly if you're a man maybe invest in a comfortable reclining desk it's like you're laying down but your laptops heat isn't directly on you a regular desk works just fine too overall laptops don't appear to be an issue for fertility so go ahead be lazy in bed with your laptop there are other threats to male fertility that are much less and the tariff and laptop we know that you know drug use particularly opiate will decrease reproduction you know marijuana