Researchers Recommend Women Not Wear Bras

Ah, bras — those expensive things that women are told to wear underneath their tops. They come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and even materials. October 13th has been dubbed "National No Bra Day" and was invented in order to promote breast cancer awareness — as well as raise money for research. Some people swear by bras, while others are vehemently opposed to them. Bras are often touted for giving support and reducing the sagging of breasts, as well as other things. These pieces of underwear have become something major in today's society.

Recently, however, bras have come under fire. 

The reason for this is that scientific research into the usefulness of bras has been conducted and it has actually shown that bras are detrimental, not beneficial, to breast health. Sports science researcher Jean-Denis Roullion conducted a 15-year study on the effect of women from ages 18 to 35. Within his research, he found that bra usage at a young age actually provided no benefit in terms of breast support. His findings actually showed the complete opposite, stating that there was a 7 mm lift in the nipples of women who did NOT use bras. He claims that bras could reduce circulation and breast tone over time.

Is it time to burn your bras?

The women who showed an improvement in nipple lift were the women who chose, by their own will, to not wear bras (so they weren't forced to for the study). Another doctor who was not part of the research stated that the removal of bra usage could actually increase collagen production and elasticity, which would then lead to an improved lift in the breasts. While this research is very compelling...

...the researchers still caution people to take it with a grain of salt. The research does show that bra usage may be potentially harmful, but the research sample was 330 women, so generalizing to every woman across the world would be a bit of a stretch.

To conclude, the researchers believe that more research should be done on the harmful effects of bra usage since they believe their research to be "preliminary." It's also worth noting that not all women wear bras for breast support. Some women simply don't want people to see the exposed breast and nipple, so they use bras for a different reason than the study was focused on. Basically, hold off on torching those bras.

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