Here's why you shouldn't hang around in a wet bikini

Whether doing laps at a pool or chilling at the beach, we all tend to hang around in out wet Speedos after a good swim, but apparently it isn’t very good for our health.

Alyssa Dweck, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told Huffington Post back in 2016 that while unlikely, keeping wet swimmers on for a long time can increase your risk of getting a yeast infection.

This is because, “yeast and bacteria really thrive in moist, dark places, like a wet bathing suit or wet workout clothes,” she explains.

If you suffer regularly from yeast infections, you’ll probably know the lingo already. But for the uninitiated, yeast organisms live and grow inside your vagina but their population numbers are kept in check by the acidity of the environement.

Trouble starts brewing if the balance in your vagina gets thrown out and it becomes less acidic, causing the yeast to multiply and giving you a classic case of itchy, burny thrush.

Many factors such as hormonal changes and medication can throw out this balance, but far more basic cause is excess irritation or moisture - which is where wet swimming costumes and sweaty gym clothes come in. These keep your vagina damp, and can cause a yeast infection.

Luckily, Alyssa says it's quite uncommon to get your first yeast infection this way, but "if you’re really prone to those types of infections, you’re going to want to change out of a wet bathing suit and just put on a dry one," she advises.

So when you leave the pool, take off that swimming costume, rinse off and wear some dry underwear (ideally cotton, which breathes).

Better safe than sorry.

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