If you have been trying to have kids for a while and haven’t had much success, the answer could be right in your pocket. Literally. Kumiko Nakata, a researcher from Japan, found that the electromagnetic waves from WiFi devices, like mobile phones and home routers, can do significant damage to sperm.

We at Bright Side try to keep an eye on the latest research and share it with our readers.

30% of fertility problems come from men

According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of couples in the world have issues when it comes to having children. And at least one-third of fertility problems come from men. Of course, men’s infertility could be caused by many things, like a bad environment, stress, a poor diet, genetics, etc. However, a small thing like keeping a mobile phone in their pocket could be the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back and that’s not allowing you to grow your family.

WiFi exposure experiment

The Japanese scientists took samples from a group of 51 men and divided them into 3 groups. They also used a WiFi device, replicating a mobile phone.

One group of samples didn’t get any exposure from a WiFi router. The second group was exposed, but had a WiFi protection shield. And the third group had full exposure. The samples were placed relatively close to the WiFi device, replicating the mobile phone being carried around in the pants pocket and the results were taken after different times.

Sperm become damaged after 2 hours.

The findings were a bit scary. While being under the influence of a WiFi signal for 30 minutes hardly had any effect, longer exposure started showing an impressive difference. After just 2 hours the motility rate of the unexposed group was 53.3%, the shield group 44.9%, and the exposed group only 26.4%. 24 hours later the dead sperm rate for the exposed group was 23.3% compared to 8.4% for the unexposed samples.

We have more mobile phones than people.

The statistics say that, these days, the number of active mobile phones is larger than the actual world population, meaning that quite a few people have more than one phone, and the effect from its waves might be too serious to be ignored.

Prevention might be very simple.

Ms. Nakata specified that the study confirmed that the electromagnetic waves from WiFi devices are safe for people in terms of well-being and health. Perhaps, a simple solution like keeping the phone on a desk instead in a pocket will make a difference for some families.

Where do you normally keep your mobile phones and what do you think about this research? Share your opinion with us.

Illustrated by Ekaterina Gapanovich for BrightSide.me