Going to bed in your underwear does not only hamper copulation, it could be turn your private parts and surrounding environment into a hot breeding ground for skin infections.
Experts warn that severe chaffing can occur for both sexes – and men could be risking fertility problems.
Gynaecologist Dr Alyssa Dweck of the Mount Kisco Medical Group in Westchester County, New York says, “I often tell my patients to sleep without underwear.”
Dweck warns that if the area “is constantly covered – especially by a fabric that’s not moisture-wicking or absorbent – moisture collects, creating the perfect breeding ground for bacteria or yeast.”
Not only could that make women more susceptible to thrush, but it could also exacerbate infections from ingrowing hairs – and make the hairs more likely to be ingrown in the first place.
Dweck suggests that if women do wear pants in bed, they should be larger designs.
She says, “If there’s ever a time to break out the granny panties, this would be it.”
For men, the outcome can be even more chilling.
Dr Brian Steixner – Director of the Institute for Men’s Health at Jersey Urology Group – says that male underwear sleepers risk not only chafing – but fertility problems too.
Steixner says: “Your nether regions need to be just the right temperature in order to optimise sperm production.
“More bacteria makes for a higher likelihood that any chafed or irritated skin down there becomes infected.”
Sex is not the only reason to go commando in bed after all.
