5 Reasons Why You Should Not Use A Laptop On Your Lap
Laptops have become one of our common companions in the modern world. Whether for business or for leisure, most people find themselves glued to their laptop screen for hours. The use of these gadgets has gone up considerably during this lockdown period as more and more people begin to employ various tips to work from home or to stay connected with family and friends.
Whatever you need your laptop for during these times of self-quarantine, you should be sure that you’re using your laptop the right way. Contrary to what its name suggests, laptops are not meant to be used on laps. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where most people use them. So, in this article, we will touch on six reasons why you should not use a laptop on your lap.
Danger To Your Reproductive Health
It is almost unbelievable, isn’t it? That such a harmless looking piece of a gadget can cause harm to human reproductive health. But that is the case. Laptops receive wireless internet signals as well as radiate electro-motive forces (EMFs). Such microwaves and radiation can cause potential harm to a male user’s sperm count and a female user’s egg release. This can happen when the laptop is in close proximity to the body.
The American Society For Reproductive Medicine has gone on to indicate that using a laptop on your laps poses risks to your fertility. Advocates for EMF protection are beginning to raise awareness of some solutions to such radiation, including crystals for emf protection. But for now, just avoid using your device on your laps.
Back And Neck Pain
When we try to work with our laptops on our laps, we usually find ourselves in a hunched position due to the way we bend over the laptop. According to the Harvard Health Medical School, bending or sitting in a hunched position behind your screen for hours can lead to neck and back pain that can become chronic if the habit continues. So, instead of placing your laptop on your laps to work for hours, sit the device on a table and sit in a position that allows you to straighten your back.
Risk Of Cancer
According to two Swiss researchers, Drs. Peter Itin and Andreas Arnold from the University Hospital of Basel, as a laptop begins to heat up during its usage, it can cause considerable skin damage on your lap. And this can lead to certain types of skin cancer over a period of time due to prolonged skin inflammation.
This finding has been supported by other experts who go further to indicate that this type of skin inflammation has the potential of developing into an aggressive type of skin cancer called the squamous cell skin cancer. Added to that, people who hold their laptops close to their reproductive organs can put themselves at risk of ovarian or testicular cancer.
Associated With Sleep Problems
When you lay back and position your laptop on your lap in order to enjoy your favourite movie or finish some work, you allow the artificial lights produced from the screen of your device to be at the same level as your eyes. When this happens often, you may risk a reduction in the release of melatonin. The latter plays a huge role in promoting sleep.
So, if you’ve found yourself struggling to sleep over a period of time, then it’s time to take a long break from your laptop to give your eyes the chance to recover. Otherwise, you can also use screen brightness adjustment features on your laptop to adjust the screen resolution to suit the time of day.
Pregnancy-Related Problems
Yup, you read that right. Working with your laptop on your lap can affect a woman’s ability to reproduce. We have already mentioned how your laptop can affect the release of eggs because of its proximity to your reproductive system. If the habit continues for a considerable length of time, it can lead to a delay in the production of eggs. And this can make it very difficult for a woman to conceive.
If a woman has already conceived and continues to use her laptop on her laps or close to their abdomen, the EMF radiation can cause considerable harm to the fetus during the first stages of conception. This can lead to children being born with certain developmental and congenital problems.
Some experts have discovered that the amount of radiation that a mother and fetus are exposed to from close proximity to a working laptop, far exceeds the EMRs from being close to video screens high voltage power lines.