posted
We have three laptops at home for just the two of us - no desktops. My laptop heats up a lot, so, for lack of anything better, I put an empty binder below it to shield me from the heat. Plus, it's a tropical country, so it's easy for me to get overheated.
Hubby started working at home a month or so ago. When he worked at an office, he had a desk and everything. But we don't have a desk at home. For either of us. We, the lazy people that we are, sit on the couch with our laptops.
Just call us two married bachelors.
So today, honey complains about the heat from his laptop.
I look over at him, and I nearly freak out. I mean, I'd forgotten all about that laptop heat kills the little swimmers thing. He slouches and generally sits in a position where the worst of the heat comes out where his naughty bits are.
So I ask him if he wants me to get him something to separate him from the heat. He declines. The good wife, I ignore him and get him another empty binder anyway and tell him to move his laptop so it can go underneath. He does, but he laughs at me.
Then, an hour later - five minutes ago for me (see, it's that whole fluidic chaos time thingy) he says, "What? It's true?" He's reading a comic about Death to Spermies by Laptop.
posted
IIRC (and I'm not taking the time to look, just so you know), fewer sperm are produced when the temperature is above a certain threshold in that general area. So, for example, a fertility specialist may ask about type of underwear, etc.
I remember that a real study did come out recently suggesting that male laptop owners may decrease their long-term fertility. I didn't read the details, but I wondered about it -- AFAIK, the effect is temporary. Spermatogenesis is an ongoing process for males (unlike -- we think -- for women, who seem to be born with only a certain number of eggs), and I didn't think anyone had shown that there was any long-term damage to the structural equipment.
[ December 24, 2004, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
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posted
I remember when they came out with a study that indicated that wearing tight jeans like the cowboys in Oklahoma like to wear decreased fertility because it increased testicular temperature.
They just don't allow the scrotum to do its job and regulate temperature.
posted
Ok this is entireyl off topic but Twinky made me think of it. A friend of mine has a shirt that has a sperm on it, and says "varsity swimmer" he wears it on swim meet days.
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posted
Killing sperm is hardly a big deal. Thousands of sperm are produced every second within one man. Heck, millions of sperm are killed in the same act of coitus that succeeds in producing a baby.
Now, if the long-term ability to produce sperm is damaged, then that is a problem.
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posted
So if there were laptops in Ireland before "the meaning of life" was filmed, would that Protestant guy have been pleased to list them as something he could use?
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AMONG THE SETTLED truths in biology, one that has long seemed beyond challenge is that women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. Men, on the other hand, keep producing sperm right to the end. Now this gender difference has been thrown in doubt by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers who have found strong evidence that in mice, at least, stem cells in the ovaries keep producing new eggs long after birth.
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Here's an article that suggests that merely sitting in a way that allows you to hold a laptop on your lap for an hour raises the temperature in the scrotum by 4 degrees. Adding the actual laptop only increases it another degree. I'd say avoid sitting like that before avoiding the laptop.
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(that's why I put "we think" in -- there is evidence in mice, which raises questions about humans)
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Sorry Sara. I know you've been busy and thought maybe you hadn't seen this article. I know, what was I thinking? Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Yeah, that's exactly it, Joldo. Stop wearing pants or underwear and sit with your laptop directly over the naughty bits so the bits get thoroughly superheated. That's exactly what you're supposed to do. Yup. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Well, the pants must cause superheating too. I meant do we run around half naked without laptops to protect our reproductive ability.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Joldo I'll take your laptop. I don't need spermies. (Well, maybe one day. That is only a possibility though.) Posts: 1132 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
it will lower sperm count...but it is only short term. If he stops putting the laptop on his lap, it will stop killing sperm. I only see it as a real issue if you are trying to have a kid right now.
Of course, if he sits it there for to long he might get a burn. Now thats one area of my body that I really don't want to burn.
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posted
One of the articles said, though, that prolonged usage can caused permanent damage. In other words, infertility. I have to admit that I'm too lazy to hunt down which one right now, though . . .
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Yeah, the second article implied permanent damage. It's just a theory, though.
quote:Adolescents and young men who use laptops several times a day over many years face the greatest risk. Sheynkin fears that if laptop use is not curtailed, in 15-20 years when they want to start a family the men could face problems.
“Long-term use may have a detrimental effect on their reproductive health,” he said.
I read the part where it said that the men sitting in such a way that a laptop COULD be placed on their laps raised the scrotal temperature several degrees even if the laptop wasn't even placed there. I immediately started trying to figure out exactly what position that is, and how it differs from the position of men just sitting in a chair and, say, reading a book.
I quickly decided to stop thinking about it.
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