Laptop Radiation Dangers

Things we do (not) know about laptop radiation

Laptops are highly praised for their portability. They have many advantages when compared to regular computers. It’s convenient to be able to bring your computer to your work, your holidays and pretty much anywhere we go. But what do we know about laptop radiation?

The World Health Organization states that radiation from laptops is lower than the threshold that could affect human health. Also, laptops screens emit less radiation than regular computer monitors. However, most laptops operate mainly with Wi-Fi technologies and studies show that Wi-Fi radiation coming directly from laptop is more dangerous since we tend to keep laptops so close to our bodies.

Laptop Radiation and Sperm

There is more and more evidence from various studies showing that if you are a regular laptop user, laptop radiation is not a health hazard you should neglect and it poses significant long term health risk. Radiation from laptops mainly comes from the place where hard disc and chips are located. In addition laptops emit a lot of heat. Research showes that holding a laptop close to your legs or abdomen for an extended period of time actually affects quality of sperm DNA partly due to the heat.

Scientist from Argentina took two samples of healthy sperm; one was kept as control sample and the other one was exposed to laptop radiation. Sperm cells that were exposed to laptop radiation appeared to be completely immobile after 4 hours of exposure. Also, it had many broken DNA while healthy sperm cells that were not in the proximity of radiation from laptops were mobile with intact DNA. Sanchez Sarmiento, one of the leading scientists of this study, stated that although we need further research, the first advice to laptop users is to not make a habit of keeping laptops on their laps, especially if they are using Wi-Fi technologies.

Laptop Radiation and Pregnancy

Another study researched women and how does laptop radiation affects their health. Laptop radiation represents possible health hazard especially when it comes to pregnancies. It is advised that pregnant women should not keep laptop anywhere near abdomen and it’s prudent to make many short brakes while working on a laptop. Since the nature of EMF radiation is such that it reduces with distance from EMF source, keeping a laptop close to body means significant amount of radiation exposure. Research results also linked radiation from laptops to leukemia, damage to female reproductive organs, birth defects, miscarriages, tumors and stress.

What can be done to decrease and minimize radiation from laptops? The best way to do this is to simply not keep laptops on our laps or abdomens. If this cannot be avoided, it is advised to keep periods of exposure short. It’s good to make short brakes and distance yourself from laptop especially if Wi-Fi technologies are on. In addition, there are laptop radiation protection pads, designed  to maintain proper cooling of laptops while at the same time working as EMF shield – reducing amount of radiation reaching your body.