A new study blames smartphones for declining sperm counts among men. Involved researchers claimed that their findings showed that males who use smartphones more often tend to have lower sperm counts compared to others.
A customer uses a previous generation iPhone while wearing an Apple AirPod while waiting in line to buy the Apple iPhone 15 series device at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles, California, on September 22, 2023.
What they discovered offers a new insight about the declining sperm count and rising infertility, which confused many health experts and other scientists.
If you are among the men concerned regarding their sperm counts, here's what you need to know about this new study.
New Study Blames Smartphones for Declining Sperm Counts
According to Forbes' latest report, the new study was published on Tuesday, Oct. 31. Numerous Swiss scientists from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and the University of Geneva were involved in the research.
They recruited over 2,880 men between 18 to 22 years old from military conscription centers. In their study, they asked these participants to track their mobile use and provide other information about their general health and lifestyle.
Swiss researchers analyzed the quality and quantity of the participants' sperms. They also checked if their smartphone usage was affecting their sperm counts.
To their surprise, males who use their smartphones more than 20 times a day have lower sperm counts and sperm concentrations compared to men who only use their mobile devices once a week.
Specifically, their new study revealed that men who use mobile gadgets 20 times a day have a 21% higher risk of suffering from a low overall sperm count.
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What Causes Male Smartphone Users To Have Lower Sperm Counts?
This picture taken on September 28, 2022 shows a member of staff monitoring the movement of donor sperm at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo. - For decades, anonymous sperm donation has existed in a legal grey zone in Japan, with no law explicitly prohibiting it, but no framework to govern it either.
CNN reported that the new study suggested that the heat generated by these smartphones could be the reason why sperm counts are declining in regular mobile device users.
"I am intrigued by the observation that the biggest effect was apparently seen with older 2G and 3G phones compared to modern 4G and 5G versions," said University of Manchester's Deputy Vice President Allan Pacey, who wasn't involved in the new study.
However, Swiss researchers who conducted the study said that as they went deeper into their research, they discovered that the link between phone usage and sperm counts became less pronounced.
They clarified that the study is still observational in nature, meaning that their findings can't prove that smartphones negatively affect the sperm counts of men.
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