Instagram is brimming over with pictures of women celebrating their happy braless moments in the times of lockdown. With most of us working from home, the urge to be free and unbound is natural.

Does this mean that women wear bras because it’s what society demands of us? In some ways yes, as bras do help our clothes look good by structuring our contours.

But don’t bras also play a role in our breast health?

Of course they do. And therefore, before you decide to go braless in a hot and humid lockdown period such as in India, do check the role of Cooper’s ligaments in your breast please.

These ligaments were named after Astley Cooper who first studied them in detail. They connect the breasts to the muscles that support the breasts. If these ligaments damage themselves then sagging is sure to happen.

Given that most of us have hardly any structured upper body fitness regimen, it is our bras that give the required support to our breasts. For those who follow an intensive fitness routine, going bra-less is acceptable since their chest muscles are already worked out.

But since most of us lead rather sedentary lifestyles, Cooper’s ligaments stand the risk of being strained or even damaged most when going braless for prolonged periods, because they take the entire load of your breasts on themselves.

So what are the tips that can help us tide over our lockdown days in hot and humid times?

• Wear only a cotton bra, preferably a well washed one.
• Absolutely avoid bras with cups that are lined with foam/filling.
• Do not wear underwired bras.
• If sweat collects on your waistband, then liberally dust your waist with talc before slipping your bra on. Trust me, this acts as a great buffer to sweat induced discomfort and rashes.
• If you absolutely wish to go braless for some time, then do ensure that you wear a slightly close fitting garment, like a tee shirt or blouse that continues to somewhat support the breasts.
• The larger your cup size, the greater the risk to damaging your Cooper’s ligaments if you are going braless.
• Irreversible sagging can happen by prolonged periods of bralessness.

The other downside is that our posture too suffers immensely without a bra. All this is because of age and gravity. Our breasts are heavy and they tend to make us stoop.

Lastly, but certainly not in the least, going braless may induce lower back pain too. That’s because a bra makes the shoulders carry the weight of our breasts. In its absence it’s the lower back that suffers.

Bras are a ludicrous invention; but if you make bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting yourself to yet another repression, said the iconic feminist Germaine Greer. So ladies, you need to decide whether a few weeks of immense comfort is worth the consequences for the rest of your lives!

The columnist is the founder-CEO of Necessity- SwatiGautam, a customised brand of brassieres. Contact: necessityswatigautam@gmail.com