Infertile men: hang up the phone

Should men with poor sperm quality hang up their cell phones? Maybe. A new study from Canada and Austria shows that while cell phone usage increases testosterone in the male body, cell phone calls may actually contribute to poor sperm quality and decreased fertility.

“Our findings were a little bit puzzling,” said Rany Shamloul, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Queen’s University in Canada and a co-author of the study. “We were expecting to find different results, but the results we did find suggest that there could be some intriguing mechanisms at work.”

The research team from Canada also worked with a team from the Medical University of Graz, Austria. Together they discovered that men who use the cell phone a lot had higher levels of circulating testosterone but they also had lower measurable amounts of luteinizing hormone (LH). LH is a hormone key to reproduction that originates in the pituitary gland in the brain.

There could be a proximity issue of the cell phone to the pituitary gland. Researchers are hypothesizing that electromagnetic waves (EMW) from the cell phones may actually create both effects: increased testosterone, decreased LH. Additionally, the EMW could be preventing the testosterone from developing into powerhouse testosterone needed for strong fertility and optimal sperm production.

It may sound silly, but if you are having difficulty conceiving, you might want to put the phone day. It may not be fully understood, but it could be an easy and inexpensive way to fix the problem.

Source: Andrologia, ScienceDaily