Can keeping your phone in your pocket harm sperm health?

The idea that carrying a phone in your pocket might affect fertility sounds like the kind of health scare that spreads faster than the science behind it. According to Dr. Rajeev Agarwal, Founder of Dame Health and Gynaecologist and Senior Infertility Specialist at Renew Healthcare, the honest answer is more nuanced than either the alarming headlines or dismissive skepticism suggest.Multiple meta-analyses, including one pooling 18 studies and over 4,000 semen samples, have found mobile phone radiofrequency exposure (RF-EMR) consistently associated with reduced sperm motility and viability. Interestingly, the effect on sperm concentration, the actual "count", has been far less consistent, with several studies finding no clear association at all. "This is where the headline oversimplifies things," says Dr. Agarwal. "Motility and viability show a more consistent signal than count specifically."Some analyses found the effect more pronounced when phones are carried in front trouser pockets specifically, close to the testes.