This one common device is destroying sperm count, doctors warn
Want super strong sperm?
Sorry, fellas: you’re going to have to freeze.
Doctors are urging men to turn off their car’s heated seats if they want to stay fertile, for fear that the popular feature could increase the temperature of the testes, adversely impacting sperm production.
Heated seats are becoming increasingly common in vehicles around the world and are particularly popular at this time of year, with temperatures dipping below zero.
But while warming up your frosty private parts on a wintry drive might sound super pleasant, quality sperm production requires the testicles to be several degrees cooler than the rest of the body,
“We’ve known for a while that heating the testicles through the wearing of tight pants or sitting down too long behind the wheel of a vehicle can reduce sperm production,” University of Manchester professor Allan Pacey told the Daily Mail on Friday.
He additionally advises men to stay away from heated blankets this winter season.
“By logical extension, I would imagine that the use of heated car seats or electric blankets during this cold snap might do the same thing,” he stated.
“My advice to any men planning to try for a pregnancy with their partner is to keep their heated car seats and electric blankets turned off,” the doc declared. “It could make all the difference.”
While you may not want to turn on your heated seats for a cross-country road trip, another expert says that occasional, short-term use shouldn’t be an issue.
“Anything that heats up the testes can damage some of the sperm, which makes them less likely to fertilize an egg,” Dr. Channa Jayasena, from Imperial College London, told the publication.
“The worst culprits are long cycle rides in lycra or long, hot baths. Occasional use of heated car seats and electric blankets should not be a problem.”
However, it’s not just heat that impacts sperm production, with a Harvard study last year uncovering that occupations can also affect whether a man has a specimen strong enough to reproduce.
Blue-collar workers with physically demanding jobs have almost 50% higher sperm counts than their white-collar office-bound counterparts, the research found.
“We already know that exercise is associated with multiple health benefits in humans … but few studies have looked at how occupational factors can contribute to these benefits,” said reproductive epidemiologist and the study’s first author, Lidia Mínguez-Alarcón, in a news release.
“What these new findings suggest is that physical activity during work may also be associated with significant improvement in men’s reproductive potential,” she added.
