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Article Date: 30 Nov 2011 - 8:00 PST
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Males who place a laptop on their laps with the WI-FI on might have a greater risk of reduced sperm motility and more sperm DNA fragmentation, which could, in theory, undermine their chances of becoming fathers, researchers from Nascentis Medicina Reproductiva, Argentina, and the Eastern Virginia Medical School, USA, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility this week. Sperm motility refers to the percentage of sperm in a semen sample that are moving - normally, a high percentage of all sperm should be moving (thrashing their tails and swimming).
This study was done in an artificial setting. The male participants were not tested with the laptops on their laps - semen samples were taken, placed under laptops for four hours, and then analyzed.
Previous studies had already shown that placing a laptop on a man's lap could potentially affect his fertility, especially if this occurs frequently and for long periods. The laptop can cause scrotal hyperthermia (elevated testicle temperature), which can considerably affect the quality of his sperm (Link to 2010 study).
In this new study, the authors explain that not only might the laptop-on-lap undermine semen quality, but also the Wi-Fi, if the laptop is near semen. They found that there was less damage when there was no Wi-Fi signal than when there was.
The double-whammy of the Wi-Fi signal and laptop temperature can cause:
- A decrease in human sperm motility
- Sperm DNA fragmentation - irreversible changes in the genetic code
Wi-Fi stands for "wireless fidelity". The term refers to a group of technical standards which enable the transmission of data over wireless networks. Put simply: Wi-Fi means wireless internet connection.
Conrado Avenda�o and team carried out a study involving semen samples from 29 healthy and fertile males. They experimented on their semen samples in two environments:
- The Wi-Fi sample. A few drops of semen were place under a laptop with the Wi-Fi switched on. The laptop was downloading data from the internet non-stop.
- The non-Wi-Fi sample. Identical to the environment above, but with no Wi-Fi switched on.
- One quarter of the sperm had lost motility in the Wi-Fi samples
- 14% of the sperm had lost motility in the non-Wi-Fi samples
- 9% of the sperm showed DNA damage in the Wi-Fi samples
- 3% of the sperm showed DNA damage in the non-Wi-Fi sampes
"Our data suggest that the use of a laptop computer wirelessly connected to the internet and positioned near the male reproductive organs may decrease human sperm quality.
,br> At present we do not know whether this effect is induced by all laptop computers connected by Wi-Fi to the internet or what use conditions heighten this effect."
The authors carried out a separate test to determine what the EM radiation levels might be near a Wi-Fi connected laptop and a non-Wi-Fi one. The difference was significant - when the computer was not Wi-Fi connected EM radiation readings were "negligible".
According to PC Mag, Electromagnetic Radiation, also known as EM Radiation, or EMR is:
"The energy that radiates from all things in nature and from man-made electronic systems. It includes cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, radar, microwaves, TV, radio, cellphones and all electronic transmission systems. Electromagnetic radiation is made up of electric and magnetic fields that move at right angles to each other at the speed of light."
The authors, as well as other experts who have commented on this study, stress that until a long-term study with a larger group of men and in natural environments is carried out, this one is only "interesting" and not really biologically relevant for humans.
Even though previous studies have looked at laptop usage and sperm quality, none have determined whether there is any impact on how many children men subsequently have or don't have.
In an Abstract in the journal, the authors concluded:
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the direct impact of laptop use on human spermatozoa. Ex vivo exposure of human spermatozoa to a wireless internet-connected laptop decreased motility and induced DNA fragmentation by a nonthermal effect.
We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to prove this contention."
Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
Conrado Avenda�o, M.S., Ariela Mata, M.S., C�sar A. Sanchez Sarmiento, M.D., Ph.D., and Gustavo F. Doncel, M.D., Ph.D.
Fertility and Sterility - 23 November 2011 (10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.10.012)
MLA
Christian Nordqvist. "Wi-Fi Laptops Harm Sperm Motility And Increase Sperm DNA Fragmentation." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 30 Nov. 2011. Web.
1 Dec. 2011. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238455.php>
APA
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
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laughing - laptops
posted by hahahah on 30 Nov 2011 at 9:06 amTime to start using my laptop more!
Perhaps not the EM radiation from WIFi
posted by Anonymous on 30 Nov 2011 at 9:56 amWhen you turn on WiFi and surf, any laptop heats up just from that WiFi chip being turned on. This study seems flawed in that it doesn't seem to take into account the heat generated by the WiFi chip. They can't reasonably state if it is the WiFi EM wave's or if it is the additional heat caused by the WiFi chip itself heating up the laptop further.
There is a simple fix to this. One, take a laptop, measure its temperature fluctuation over 4 hours without WiFi turned on. Then turn on WiFi and measure its temp. variation over 4 hours. See if the results you are seeing are just coming from that additional heat.
If it truly is the WiFi, then another test must be done to be sure. Take the WiFi chip out, make a special unit that will control the temperature of the chip (fan, heat-sync), expose that to the sperm and see if it has an affect.
Without those modifications, I wouldn't take this study seriously, it has a poor control.
I have four kids - getting a laptop
posted by James Alonso on 30 Nov 2011 at 10:04 amIf this turns out to be proven in a larger study, great. I shall go and get one and spend all day with it on my lap. Four children is enough!!
Read again
posted by Marko on 30 Nov 2011 at 10:16 amIt seems the purpose of the study was to only measure the effects of the RF radiation.
SO what? laptops and sperm quality
posted by jeves on 30 Nov 2011 at 10:22 amThis isn't big news. You make new sperm so quickly that it doesn't matter if that one batch fails, you just wait a few hours and make some more. Although DNA fragmentation does sound a bit scary.
Great insight! But...
posted by Jamie on 30 Nov 2011 at 10:50 amWhile it's anything but critical to the point of your article, Wi-Fi in fact stands for nothing; the attempt to map it back as meaning "wireless fidelity" was made after it had already debuted, and while you'll find numerous references to this, the actual standards and other source material for the 802.11x series refer to it only as "Wi-Fi."
Go ahead and look it up. But don't do it from the laptop you have on your lap, because as we've read here, that could damage your fertility. ;-)
Cell Phones
posted by David Gorsich on 30 Nov 2011 at 11:22 amSo what if you leave your cell phone between your legs while you drive?
Totally bogus study design
posted by PF on 30 Nov 2011 at 4:28 pmWhile I've only read the abstract and seen the illustrations, and don't want to spend $30 to buy the article, I'm dumbfounded by what I can surmise of this study. It's amazing what gets accepted to 'juried' journals. In no way could the study design conclude anything about EMR radiation, since there was no control of, much less measure of, the entire EMR spectrum. EMR includes not only radiation from WIFI broadcast (radio spectrum) which they measured, but also Infrared spectrum (FAR MORE powerful, which they did not measure). IR radiation rises many-fold when turning on WIFI, as does convection from the fan. Any dolt knows this who has turned off WIFI on his laptop to save his battery power.
To quote someone wiser than me, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."
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Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238455.php
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