Most men at some point wear a necktie, whether it is day to day for work, or for particular functions. Some men wear them more than others, and a necktie will always add to a suit or a shirt.
Here Is Why Neckties Can Be Unhealthy:
Germs and bacteria can form anywhere on the body, especially if it is hugging your neck. Wearing a necktie for long periods of time can cause germs to develop (which is called MRSA).
This is the short answer, we have researched and have put together in this article all answers regarding whether neckties will affect your health and your life. So please stick around!
Are neckties unhealthy?
The last thing that most of us would think of when we hear the word “necktie” is that they are unhealthy, but studies have actually demonstrated that they could actually pose potential risks to your health.
One of the biggest criticism of ties when it comes to health is that they may increase pressure on the eyeballs if you wear one too often and too tight. Having something tight around your neck every day will start to feel uncomfortable fast.
Wearing a tie at a comfortable tightness is perfectly healthy, but giving your neck a break as well will help.
The real threat to health when it comes to ties is the bacteria and germs that they pick up. Having a loose piece of fabric constantly dangling away from your body is an easy way to pick up dirt and other bad things from your environment.
Neckties are less likely to be unhealthy and carry bacteria than articles of clothing like underwear and shoes because those are more likely to come into contact with things that can cause germs, but they still pose a health risk.
The lack of attention paid to ties when it comes to things that have the potential to impact people’s health may be why some are still unconvinced that wearing a tie is actually fine no matter your environment or workplace.
Being aware that they can become unhealthy very quickly when germs spread is the best way to know when and where to wear a necktie.
Do neckties carry germs?
Any material can pick up germs, so your neckties are no exception. If you are wearing a tie all day, chances are that you’ll be touching it a lot with your hands, which can spread germs to the material if you’ve just touched something else with your hands.
Your tie is also very likely to make contact with different surfaces and other things in your environment, and germs can be carried and transferred on pretty much everything.
Neckties can carry lots of different pathogenic bacteria, such as MRSA, and then easily pass them on to other people or surfaces that they come into contact with.
All it takes for germs to latch onto something is a surface that will allow them to cling on and spread further. One thing that germs love is material, no matter the type, because they can pass onto a material through breathing, coughing, sneezing, and other bodily functions and survive on it for some time.
A lot of people don’t wash their neckties, and if they do, they don’t do it as often as they should.
The best way to clean a tie is to do it by hand because a machine will be too powerful and likely destroy the delicate material and craftsmanship of the necktie. You should ideally aim to handwash your ties after each wear, with warm water and a gentle soap, to keep them as hygienic as possible.
Here is a good article on how to wash your necktie.
But you should also try to wash your hands as often as you can, especially in the post-COVID world where sanitation has been heightened to keep everybody safe from infection.
If you handle a material, such as a necktie, with unclean hands then bacteria and germs can easily pass onto it. Your necktie will house the germs until they have the potential to spread elsewhere and if you work in a high-risk environment, there are plenty of opportunities for germs to move onto new fabrics or people.
Why do doctors not wear ties?
Hospitals are the last place that you want infections to be spread, so doctors don’t wear ties because they can so easily collect germs and cause pathogens to breed and spread.
Doctors who work in practises as opposed to hospitals might wear ties because the risk of attracting and spreading germs isn’t as great, but a lot of people would prefer for no doctors at all to wear ties because of the possibility of cross-transmission of infection.
It is currently policy in the United Kingdom for doctors and other medical staff to roll up their sleeves (or wear short sleeves) and not wear wrist watches or neckties because of the risk of spreading infection, but lots of people want this to be the policy everywhere in the world.
It is an easy enough policy to have because hospital staff are required to have a uniform that suits the purpose of their job: preventing germs from spreading in an environment where a lot of people are sick and their health is a lot more fragile. It would also help to keep the doctors themselves safer from infection.
A doctor will see multiple patients every day and they will all be suffering from different illnesses and ailments.
Because of that, wearing a tie that collects dirt and germs so easily could be potentially life threatening to a patient with very delicate health.
It is in everyone’s best interest to keep absolutely everything inside a hospital, including the people and the clothes that they wear, as clean and sanitary as possible.
As they hang away from the body, ties may also make a doctor’s work harder by getting in the way.
It is entirely possible to look smart and well-dressed at work without wearing a necktie, so going without one will benefit doctors in three ways:
it lowers their risk of transmitting germs, it makes it easier for them to do their jobs, and it allows their necks to be more comfortable.
After all, working long shifts is uncomfortable enough on the body, so not having a tight necktie makes it a bit easier for hospital staff.
Do neckties spread disease?
Anything that has been contaminated with germs and bacteria that cause infections and illnesses has the potential to spread disease.
For example, if someone had sneezed and particles got onto your necktie and you then touched your tie and then your face, you are transferring the bacteria from the person who sneezed to your face through contact with the necktie.
This is the case with anything that you touch, so constant and effective handwashing and sanitizing is the best way to lower the risk of diseases spreading.
If some germs or bacteria have got onto your tie and you have then touched somebody else, you can pass a disease onto them.
Lots of people can carry germs and not get sick from them, but if somebody who works in a hospital had collected lots of germs on their tie and then seen a patient while wearing the tie, those germs could be a lot more dangerous depending on the state of the patient’s health.
All hospital policies are designed and enforced with the goal of keeping all staff and patients as safe as possible, so banning ties at work seems to be an obvious policy that has not yet been adopted in every country.
If you realize that your necktie has come into contact with something very germy, you should take it off as soon as you can and wash it.
The longer you leave germs on an item of clothing, the more likely they are to spread to your body and to other surfaces. Washing a necktie by hand is effective enough because it will not ruin the item of clothing and will also kill the bacteria that may be on it.
Are ties unsanitary?
As lots of people tend to wear the same tie multiple times in a row without washing them because ties are so delicate, these items of clothing become unsanitary very quickly.
Of course, simply wearing a tie once doesn’t mean that it will become infested with all kinds of germs and bacteria, but it is more hygienic to wash a tie after wearing it because you can’t see any of these potential bacteria.
Just because something looks and smells clean, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t unsanitary and in need of being cleaned.
Ties are more likely to be unsanitary than other items of clothing that we wear regularly because they are more likely to drag over surfaces and be constantly adjusted by hands.
In fact, studies have shown that unwashed neckties can pose just as much of a sanitation risk as long fingernails because of how they collect bacteria.
Of course, where you work and spend a lot of time will contribute to how likely your neckties are to be unsanitary, which is why so many people want it to become an enforced policy everywhere for doctors to be prevented from wearing ties at work.
If you are aware that the environment you are in is unsanitary, or that you’ve come into close contact with someone who is sick, it is better to be safe than sorry and you should wash everything you were wearing as soon as you can.
The easiest way to kill the pathogens which cause disease is to cleanse all your belongings of them before they pass onto a different surface and start to spread further.
If you do go into an unsanitary environment quite often while wearing a tie and find yourself getting sick then chances are that the tie is causing you to carry excess bacteria around with you because of how easy it is for a tie to make contact with the things around you.