At a recent session, the topic of sports bras came up and I was challenged to write about it.
Here’s the way these blogs normally go:
- Exercising without a bra will lead to sagging breasts as the connective tissue / ligaments stretch.
- You need a bra
- The larger your breasts, or the more intense your exercise, the more support you need.
- Here’s some links. Buy some overpriced sports bras…
…….
Simple, right?
Not so fast.
Because this link between sagging breasts and exercise is far from proven. And in the same way, the link between wearing bras and reducing sag is also not proven at all. Some women experience sagging breasts despite being in bras and others do not. In fact, variables such as skin elasticity, breastfeeding, number of children, overall weight plus weight gain and loss are all significant factors in whether a breast will sag or not.
And in any case, what’s the issue with sagging breasts? And how much of this ‘issue’ is down to society’s expectations for women to look like teenagers? I like this post I came across recently.
Now I get that there might be psychological and self-confidence issues related to saggy breasts, in the same way as these might be related to any aging process.
But let’s be clear: there is no downside to letting gravity do it’s thing. There is no increase risk of anything. So if you wanna wear a bra go for it. If you wanna let ’em sag, go for it!
