It may add an extra touch of class to a suit or nice button-down shirt, but neckties can cut off essential blood flow to the brain and potentially deter one's ability to think and function normally, according research published online June 30 in Neuroradiology.
Researchers from the Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany, explored this "socially desirable strangulation" by recruiting 30 healthy men, with an average age of 25, and divided them into two groups. Half of the men underwent three MRI scans while wearing neckties and the other half was imaged without one.
The men who wore a necktie in the MRI scanner experienced an average 7.5 percent drop in cerebral blood flow. Additionally, five of those men had a greater than 10 percent decrease.
The control group experienced no decrease, according to the researchers. The team did not explore the side effects of decreased blood flow in those wearing a tie.
A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.