How long do you wear your underwear before putting on a clean pair?
You might be surprised to learn that a new study by Tommy John says that 45% of Americans wear their underwear 2 days or longer. But then again, there's a good chance you might be one of those people.
Tommy John recently surveyed 2,000 American men and women about their underwear-wearing habits.
Other shocking findings include:
13% of those survey wear the same pair of underwear for a week or more
Men are more likely to wear underwear for more than a week
46% of those surveyed have owned a pair of underwear for a year or more and 38% say they have no idea how long they have had the same underwear
If you are any of the people above, you may want to think about this.
Clean underwear can contain up to 10,000 living bacteria. That's CLEAN underwear. It's probably best not to think how many bacteria could be living in your underwear by the end of a week.
Here is a list of 6 things that can happen to women when you don't change your panties:
1. Rash
2. Weird odors
3. Yeast infections
4. Chafing
5. UTI
6. Pubic lice or scabies
There are also various health implications for men, including:
1. Itching
2. Inflammation
3. Bacterial infections
4. Genital wounds
Bottom line, dirty underwear could be damaging to your health. If you are wearing your underwear for more than a day at a time and you are keeping the same pair of underwear for more than 6 months, you may want to rethink those decisions. Especially if you are a woman.
Here are some other healthy underwear tips:
1. Dry your underwear on low for at least 30 minutes after washing.
2. Don't mix your undies in the same load of laundry with anyone in your house who is sick.
3. Don't wash contaminated underwear with other pairs or other clothing.
4. Don't wash your underwear with other clothing that may have bodily fluids on it.
By the way, if you are interested in the habits of the French and British, we found this information.
- 18% of British men wear their underwear 6 times or more
- 4% of French men wear the same pair at least 6 times
- 91% of French women and 93% of British women ALWAYS wear clean underwear.
