LIFT YOUR WORK LIFE
Your power suit might actually be weakening your chances of promotion. Go casual to secure a cognitive sharpener
Dressing for the job you want is an old office trope: a smart suit, we’ve long been led to believe, will help you climb the career ladder. We may have recently lauded the tie’s return to form in the sartorial stakes – and, in a social setting, there’s no smarter accessory – but some T-shirt-wearing scientists now believe that your perfect half-windsor knot is constricting your workplace progress.
For your next promotion-worthy presentation, the intelligent option is to adopt the athleisure look of the Silicon Valley start-up executives. According to a recent study in Neuroradiology, the jugular compression caused by your necktie is strangling your brainpower. German researchers ran MRI scans on both tie-wearing and bare-necked volunteers, and recorded a 7.5% reduction in blood flow to the brain in those who were knotted up.
Unsurprisingly, anything that stops the flow of nutrients and oxygen to your brain is bad news for idea generation and quick, critical thinking. Furthermore, specialists at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary revealed neckties can increase pressure inside your eyes and linked habitual tie-wearing to long-term damage of your optic nerves.
If your office dress code offers some wiggle room, this is your excuse to ditch the tie-pinned dogma and give your career some breathing space. Try pairing your navy suit with a fresh, white crew neck for a stylish transition, then start making designs on that management role. It’s time you loosened up.