The Shocking Truth About Fashion And Health

At first blush, there appears to be no relationship between fashion and health. After all, we often associate poor health with issues like poor food choices, insufficient exercise, high stress, and toxic environments. However, a closer look at some fashion trends paints a different picture.

Naturally, not all fashion trends are harmful, and you can still be fashionable and healthy, too. In fact, there are many garments that look good and also improve health. Therafirm stockings are an example of a garment that offer shaping support and can actually improve health. These compression stockings can deliver the right amount of pressure to improve blood flow and prevent swelling.

How Bad Can It Be?

One of the main reasons why there is a higher correlation between fashion and poor health than most people recognize is simply due to ignorance. Many popular fashion trends, for example, may look quite innocent. How harmful, for example, can it be to wear shoes, handbags, underwear, and jeans? Well, if you make some poor choices, these common items of clothing can cause quite a bit of harm.

Let’s take a closer look at how some apparently innocent clothing choices may cause health problems over time:

Shoes

While ill-fitting shoes are known to cause foot problems, few people classify high heels as falling into this category. However, high heels, worn by one in ten women at least three times a week, can cause more damage than slips and falls. They are also the biggest cause of foot problems in women, with a third who suffer from permanent foot problems because of prolonged wear. 

Handbags

Small handbags with only a few items are harmless enough. But as large handbag become popular, women tend to carry more in them. These heavy handbags weighing on the shoulders on a regular basis result in painful maladies that can become chronic health problems.

While high heels and heavy handbags are obvious health culprits, even underwear and jeans are not entirely harmless.

Underwear

Underwear is harmless, but tight underwear is another issue. The popularity of slimming underwear is often responsible for indigestion. While squeezing into one may create smoother lines for a slinky dress slimming underwear contributes to a health condition called GERD. Dr. Richard A. Desi, a gastroenterologist at the Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, says “It’s purely a mechanical issue. Tight-fitting belts, pants, etc., increase pressure on the abdomen and stomach. Stomach contents then have a greater likelihood of refluxing from the stomach and into the esophagus due to this increased pressure.”

Jeans

Even jeans can be a health hazard.While most jeans are harmless, skinny jeans are another issue. Skinny jeans worn by both men and women may fit snugly around the waist and taper elegantly to the bottom of the leg, but they are often so tight that they need zippers to get them over the feet. Skinny jeans are responsible for meralgia paresthetica, a malady that compresses the superficial nerves that give sensation to the side of the thighs. What’s more, men who wear skinny jeans may also have a reduced sperm count due to the excessive heat caused by the tight fabric.

Dress Healthy, Dress Smart

Now that we’ve got the bad news out of the way, what’s the good news? You can dress healthy and still dress smart.

Dress Healthy

Besides comfortable clothes made out of natural fabrics like cotton, what else can you do to dress healthy?

Actually, there are quite a few innovative ideas to keep you healthy.

Here are a few examples:

• The Perfect Bra invented by osteopaths in Korea support the shoulders while not putting pressure on the back.
• Trousers with sweat repellant technology have two layers, one for repelling the sweat from the skin and one for dispersing the sweat over a larger area of the trousers so it can be dispersed easily.
• Magnetic back braces, worn under clothing, increase circulation in the lower back. 16 small, but powerful magnets sewn into a rubberized support belt cover 9 inches of the lower back.

Dress Smart

There are many style tips that can change your life. Dressing smart is all about creating the right ensemble.

Here is a simplified version of how to dress smart that can be broken down into making five choices when dressing up:

First, choose the bottom you want to wear. Determining whether you wear slacks or jeans and deciding on the color of the will determine the rest of your outfit.

Second, find a top that matches the bottom. If your bottom is dressy, you can wear a casual top. If you wear a colorful bottom, choose a more neutral color for the top.

Third, if you can’t decide, then a dress will work fine, and you can make it stand out with some stylish jewelry.

Fourth, add a blazer if you want to create a professional look.

Fifth, complete the outfit with the right shoes.

Putting It Altogether

The reason most people wear fashionable clothes that later result in health problems is because they fail to notice the discomfort that they feel. Over time, these can create a huge problem. For instance, a woman may ignore the nagging pain in her shoulder and not even associate it to the size of her handbag. However, dressing fashionably can still be done in a healthy way, and there are a number of ways to have the best of both worlds.