It is simply irresistible to go to bed without taking out your bra after a long tiresome day. Additionally, a myth exists that your breasts will become perkier by wearing a bra even at night. Regardless of hearing about the several detrimental effects caused by wearing a bra continuously day and night, you are still tempted to wear it to bed. Nevertheless, removing it before going to bed will affect your health in multiple positive ways.
Is It Good to Sleep in a Bra?
The answer is no, especially if you do it frequently. Though wearing a bra to bed may seem harmless, the fact is, wearing a bra at night while sleeping may actually lead to numerous health issues. Let us reveal the reasons:
It inhibits circulation
The circulation is inhibited when you sleep wearing a bra, particularly if the type of your bra is underwire. If the wire of your bra is very tight against the skin, there is constriction of pectoral muscles, impeding the blood circulation to the nerves of your arms. Additionally, wearing a bra that has tight compression such as a sports bra may harm breast tissue if it is worn often as it constantly restricts circulation.
It results in restlessness during sleep
Even slight constriction may affect the quality of your sleep. As wearing too tight clothing while sleeping may cause restlessness. Similarly wearing a tight or fitted bra can cause restlessness and irritation leading to disturbed sleep. Is it good to sleep in a bra? No, it is not good to sleep in a bra as by doing so your sleep will get disturbed and you will not get a good quality sleep.
It may result in irritation of skin
If you sleep in a bra, you may easily get skin irritation. The straps and hooks of the bra may rub against your skin, eventually resulting in skin lesions. These lesions may even turn into cysts if the bra is worn for long duration and especially if the type of bra worn is underwire. The irony of the situation is that you may not notice or feel the slight discomfort or pain caused by the bra during the night.
It may result in hyper pigmentation of the skin
Hyper pigmentation refers to discoloration of skin or appearance of dark spots on skin or uneven tone of skin. It’s caused by increased melanin (a pigment, which determines the color of the skin) levels on a particular area of the skin. Wearing too tight bras at night while sleeping can result in hyper pigmentation of the skin as the straps and hooks rub against the skin constantly leading to irritation, friction and damage of that particular area of the skin.
It may lead to fungal infection of the breasts
Developing a fungal infection of the breast is an additional result of wearing a bra particularly ill-fitting bra to bed on a regular basis. The moist and warm environment is a perfect breeding ground for fungus. Moreover, most of the females wear a bra (especially ill-fitted) all their lives; therefore, the chances of development of breast fungus are very high. Hence, you should remove the bra at night before going to sleep, especially if you are living in a hot and humid climate.
It inhibits toxin removal
If you wear a constricting bra at night, you are negatively affecting your lymphatic system. It impairs lymphatic drainage and blood flow resulting in fluid retention and chronic inflammation. By the help of lymph glands, toxins are removed from the area of the breast; hence, impaired lymphatic drainage will affect the kidneys, liver and other body parts negatively by inhibiting the excretion of toxins. This could also result in cancer of breast.
Is it good to sleep in a bra at night? According to Sydney Ross Singer, who is a researcher on breast cancer and medical anthropologist, the worst thing that you can do to your breasts is to sleep in a bra. The incidence of cancer of breast is almost the same in bra-free females as males, whereas the incidence increases the longer and tighter a bra is worn. It is 100 times greater for females who use bra 24/7 in comparison to bra-free females. Bra compresses the breast tissue that is evident by indentations or red marks in the skin formed by wearing the bra, which results in accumulation of toxins and fluids leading to pain, cyst formation and finally cancer. If you want to find out whether your breasts are being harmed by the bra, remain bra-free for a month and you can feel the change.