For generations, neckties were a constant headache. But new studies questioning the safety of the silk tourniquet may soon see casual Friday lasting all week long.In June, the medical journal Neuroradiology published a study demonstrating that a Windsor knot “tightened to the point of slight discomfort” could interrupt as much as 7.5 percent of cerebral blood flow.
Reduced blood flow to the brain has negative implications for both productivity and creativity.In many professions, a special dress code including a necktie and a collared shirt is mandatory although little is known about the effect of this ‘socially desirable strangulation,’ ” Dr. Robin Lüddecke and his colleagues from the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany, wrote in their study of 30 young men with no known cerebrovascular disease.
A previous study from the University of Glasgow found that “wearing a tight collar or tie may compromise the venous drainage of the brain and thus impair cerebrovascular reactivity,” possibly increasing the incidence of a stroke in those already at risk. Another study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology found that a tight necktie increases intraocular pressure and “could affect the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.
Two weeks ago that evidence drove R. Rex Parris, 66, the mayor of Lancaster, to seek a ban on requiring employees to wear the corporate noose.Let’s be clear, it’s an antiquated custom that has no social utility that anybody can cite,” Parris, a trial attorney and lifelong tie wearer, tells The Post.Parris also argues that forcing men into a specifically “male” article of clothing, especially one that is linked to negative health effects, is a form of gender discrimination.
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