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Summer calls for a total change in your dressing styles. Cotton clothing, sleeveless tops, hats to protect you from the sun, sun glasses, suntan lotions are all part of the summer essentials. But hey! What about your bare essentials? Bertolt Brecht a famous German poet and play writer once exclaimed, “From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.”

Call them what you will, but your inners plays a huge role in defining your outer self. The importance of undergarments does in fact go a lot deeper than simple hygiene and it quite literally affects your health! Maintaining the right genital temperature is very important to staying healthy and therefore your choice of underwear is very important. Essentially, the temperature of your genitalia should be slightly higher than the entire body temperature. Your underwear makes all the difference.

Kind of Material

In areas with high levels of humidity, summers can become unbearable as moisture and sweat just refuse to evaporate and no amount of ventilation seems to suffice. For this reason, parts of the body that are subjected to greater friction and moisture buildup, like the areas around the breasts, on the inner thighs and around the genitalia, are more prone to irritation. The excessive perspiration and low rate of evaporation seem to work together to generate foul body odors and unpleasant body rashes. You could follow certain precautions to avoid such conditions:

• Always wear cotton inners. Cotton is more absorbent and will absorb a lot of the moisture and it also allows for better ventilation, helping keep the area clean and dry.
• Thick inners can affect ventilation and it is recommended that you wear thin underwear as they are more comfortable.
• Underwire bras should be avoided as far as possible. Despite the advantages, the metal or plastic wires are known to cause breast cancer in women.

Wear the Right Fit

With the right material you also should have the right fit. A study in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia noted that almost 75-80% of women wore bras of incorrect sizes. It is very important that we wear undergarments that fit us right in order to avoid some mundane but uncomfortable health conditions. Some of the ill effects of wearing ill fitting underwear are as follows

• According to a research in UK from the Portsmouth University, ill fitting bras are known to stretch the ligaments in the breast in a manner that cannot be repaired.
• Breast cancer is common in women who wear bras that are too tight as also in those who wear them 24 hours a day.
• Pain in the shoulders, numbness as well as tingling sensation in the arms are common in women wearing tight bras.
• Wearing tight or loose bras can also lead to improper posture in most women. This is also followed by neck pain and back aches.
• Tight panties namely thongs should be avoided; mainly in the summers. Thongs provide the best habitat for vaginal infections as it provides an easy passage of the anal bacteria to the vagina.
• Thongs worn in summer can be even more dangerous as they block airflow and stimulate sweat production, thus increasing the chances of vaginal infections.
• Wearing tight underwear is one of the major causes of infertility in most men. Remember to measure your size before you choose your lingerie.

Functionality: This refers to wearing the right kind of lingerie at the right time. For women especially wearing the right bra during a particular activity is very important.

• Sports Bra: It is important that if you are a sportsperson and on the run you need to wear a sports bra that will support the breasts well. This is true when it comes to other heavy activities as well.

• Regular Cotton Underwear: Avoid the use of synthetic materials for your underwear during times of heavy activities, particularly during the summers. Synthetic fibers fail to soak sweat and any moisture, thus increasing incidences of chaffing, hives as well as vaginal infections.

• Tight fitting men’s underwear: For sports activities, men should make sure that they use underwear that fits just right in order to avoid movement of the genitals.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.