Heated car seats can be a threat to male fertility
Did you know that heated car seats have an adverse effect on sperm cells? How? Read about it below...
Heated seats affect sperm production. (jlp)
A lot of people simply adore the feeling when on a cold morning they jump straight into a car where nicely heated car seats await them. But did you know that the nice and warm feeling also has dangerous side effects?
German scientists examined 30 male volunteers by taking the temperature of the scrotum after sitting in a car for 90 minutes. The temperature of men who sat on heated seats was 37.3 °C (99.1 °F), and it was slightly higher than the temperature of men who sat on normal, unheated seats, which was 36.7 °C (98 °F). However, even such a slight increase can be linked to a reduction in sperm counts. As sperm production requires a lower temperature, the testicles are located outside the body and even a slight rise, such as in the study, can be linked to the statements of researchers.
Heated seats are only one of the factors affecting fertility. The ever-growing list also includes stress, cycling, smoking and so on.
Studies conducted in the last years have already warned that heat is linked to a reduction in the numbers of sperm, similar to use of a laptop, which is only one of the threats to sperm cells on the ever-growing list of them. Others are stress, exposure to different toxins, smoking, cycling and so on.
Researchers have known for some time that driving for longer periods, either on heated or normal seats, increases the temperature in the scrotum. This means that if you regularly drive for a longer period of time, it is more harmful than the factors in the environment. Of course, additional heat produced by heated car seats contributes to the rise in temperature.
