talkhealth Blog

Just looking at these packages is like stepping into the This Is Your Bra-Life Time Machine.

Do you remember getting your first bra?

The fabric.

Figuring out how to adjust the straps.

Hooking it.

Were you the sort who spun her bra around and hooked it in the front?

Or were you so skilled that you could hook it the way you’d watched your mother do?

Training bras are so enmeshed in our world, there’s even a wiki site devoted to them.  Check it out here!

But guess what?

A new study in France reports that we didn’t need those training bras after all.

Or any bras!

According to the Huffington Post article, Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon measured the breasts of 300 women between the ages of 18 and 35.

(You wonder what his wife, if he has one, thinks of this project.  If I were Madame Rouillon, I wouldn’t be tres pleased.)

The Professor found that women who go braless actually have more muscle tone than women who wear brassieres, and their nipples sit higher.

Do tell, Professor.

Why so?

The study concluded:  ”When bras are worn, the restrictive material prevents such tissue from growing, which may actually accelerate sagging.”

So all that restriction and support has been bad for the boobs.

Poor girls, as Oprah likes to call them.

Who knew?

So ready to give your bra the heave ho?

Rats!

We can’t.

The article warns that it’s too late for older women to reap these braless benefits.

Our muscle tone is shot.

So sadly, this blog post has no menopausal takeaway, but I hope you enjoyed thinking about your first training bra!

Barbara Younger

Barbara Younger blogs from her home in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Along with Friend for the Ride: Encouraging Words for the Menopause Roller Coaster (http://friendfortheride.com), she writes books for children and adults. She lives in an old house with her husband Cliff. and collections of everything from dolls to buttons to bookmarks. She's the mother of two grown daughters and the grandmother to one adorable baby boy!