Be it evening or bedtime, whenever you spend extra time on your phone, your wife gets a bit disgusted with you! But, do you know..? At the time you bring your smartphone or laptop to bed at night, you not only suffer from your wife’s anger but also a decline in the quality of your sperms? Yes! You heard it right. Evening and late-night uses of digital devices can affect your fitness level and the health of your sperms.
The effect of digital device radiation on health has been a matter of research for quite some time. A study shared at the Virtual Sleep 2020 meeting stated that evening and late night exposure to light-emitting digital devices can decline sperm count, affect sperm quality, and eventually increases the chance of infertility.
What is sperm count?
A measure of the number of spermatozoa (A single sperm) per ejaculation or per measured amount of semen is generally known as Sperm Count. Sperm count is used as a parameter of a man's fertility. A normal sperm count ranges from 15 million to more than 200 million sperm per milliliter (mL) of semen. Less than 15 million sperms per milliliter of semen indicate infertility in men.
Statistical Data
According to World Health Organization, the percentage of infertility in the general population is 15 to 20 percent, and 20 to 40 percent of this rate is caused by male infertility. In our country, India, the prevalence of male infertility is around 23 percent.
What Is The Science Behind?
According to research results, the use of a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any kind of light-emitting digital device in the evening and at bedtime reduces sperm motility, sperm progressive motility, and sperm concentration. Greater exposure to the short-wavelength light (SWL) emitted from these devices, leads to a higher percentage of immotile sperm; which brings great difficulty in fertilization. In an addition, researchers stated that longer sleep duration is positively correlated with total sperm count and progressive sperm motility.
Effects of Different Colored SWL (Short Wavelength Light)
Different colors of digital light affect the overall reproductive health. SWL’s usage in the evening or night, which is on the blue end of the spectrum, reduces the secretion of melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain that is commonly known as the sleep hormone. As a result, exposure to SWL can harm the sleep cycle, for men and women, hence, creating hindrances in fertility.
Digital Devices Also Affect Female Reproductive System
Another interesting implication of recent research is that women wishing to conceive a child should be concerned with the use of digital devices. The fertile life of sperm in the female reproductive tract maybe 80 hours or more. Spermatozoa might be in danger from electromagnetic waves in the female cervix uteri and oviducts.
Conclusion
Prolonged direct exposure to the mobile phone may bring about sperm DNA fragmentation. For want to be fathers, especially with fertility problems, it would be better to avoid holding a mobile phone in a trouser pocket for long periods, as this habit reduces the sperm quality too.
There is no harm in using digital devices earlier in the evening or a few hours before bedtime. Men who use digital devices at night, try to limit this practice; it will be best if you quit this habit altogether.
For more queries you can always consult with the best fertilit???????y expert in Siliguri.
