In case you haven't heard, it's National No Bra Day, and everyone's getting very excited. In order to help promote breast cancer awareness month, the day celebrates all things breast by encouraging women to throw off their uncomfortable, ill-fitting, sweaty-underboob-causing bras. But what's the science behind removing the bras that have held our boobs hostage for so long? Aside from the obvious freedom it brings, it turns out that there are no long term cosmetic or health benefits to donning a bra. If you've long been told that wearing a bra is the only way to stop your boobs from sagging when you're older, or that your boobs need the support of a bra to be healthy, I'm here to tell you that you're 100 per cent wrong. Head over to the next page to find out why not wearing a bra is actually better for your health. A 15 year study suggests that wearing a bra does nothing to support the chest, reduce back pain or prevent breasts from sagging. Professor Rouillon, who headed up the study, said: “Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra.” So if wearing a bra doesn't help with the appearance of your boobs in the long run, perhaps health is the real reason we're staying strapped in all day? As it turns out, completely the opposite is true. Wearing a bra can actually be detrimental to your health, as a recent study found. Professor Robert Mansel from the University Hospital of Wales and consultant surgeon Simon Cawthorn carried out a six-month trial to see if wearing a bra affected breast pain. They asked 100 women to go without a bra for three months, and then return to wearing one for another three months. On average, the number of pain-free days went up by 7 per cent when the women stopped wearing bras. However, Cawthorn was anxious to stress that less pain doesn't necessarily mean better health: "This study does not link breast pain with breast cancer, and does not show any link between wearing a bra and breast cancer." So while they might not give you cancer, wearing a bra is almost certainly a one way ticket to increased boob pain. And if you're still not convinced, simply remind yourself that Kylie Jenner goes without one, so it must be cool. Source
