Evening screen time negatively impacts sperm quality

Researchers observed a significant negative correlation between the use of smartphones and tablets in the evening and sperm quality.

The findings were initially published in Sleep, the journal of the Sleep Research Society, and presented at the society’s recent annual meeting, which was held virtually.

In recent decades, there has been a significant decline in sperm concentration among men in Western and industrialized countries, Amit Green, PhD, head of research and development at the Sleep and Fatigue Institute at Assuta Medical Center in Israel, told Healio Primary Care. Although mobile phone radiation partly attributed to this decline, there is little research on an association between short wavelength light emitted from digital screens and sperm quality, he added.

Green and colleagues analyzed semen samples from 116 adults aged 21 to 59 years undergoing fertility evaluation. They also reviewed the men’s electronic screen exposure and sleep habits.

The researchers found that use of smartphones and tablets in the evening and after reported bedtime negatively correlated with sperm concentration, motility and progressive motility (P < .05). A negative relationship also existed between subjective sleepiness and participants’ total sperm count and progressive sperm motility (P < .05). While sleep duration was positively linked to total sperm count and progressive motility, it negatively correlated with semen pH (P < .05).

Based on the findings, “primary care physicians should advise their patients trying to conceive that they should limit their media device use to 2 hours before bedtime,” Green said.