Taking your bra off after a long day is one of life’s greatest pleasures.
But, despite years of trusting them to hold our chests up and stop everything heading south, scientists are now saying that going bra-less might actually help keep your boobs perkier.
Pardon?!
Dropping a major boob-bombshell, the French study revealed that women could experience about a 1/4-inch (7mm) lift in the nipples for each year they didn’t wear a bra.
The study suggested that bras discourage the growth of supporting breast tissue, resulting in the breasts sagging more quickly – something we’ve all been told they help prevent.
The study was conducted by Jean-Denis Rouillon, a sports medicine specialist from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Besancon, near Dijon.
Rouillon said: ‘Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra.’
Since 1997, Rouillion has been studying the breasts of 330 volunteers ages 18 to 35 using a slide ruler and a caliper to record the changes in breast position as the women aged. That’s a lot of boobs.
Sadly, Rouillon said his results do not prove there is any benefit for, say, a 45-year-old mother to stop wearing bras as the study focused on younger women and can’t be generalised to all females.
So he concludes that he wouldn’t advise all women to stop wearing a bra.
Phew. They might not stop our boobs from sagging, but they sure as hell keep everything in place when we run for the bus.
