Don't Wear Yoga Pants When You Do This

Why do we love yoga pants so much?

Because they make you feel comfy enough to break out into a dance routine in public at any given moment? That’s my first guess. But there’s a more scientific reason as to why we love them.

It's because of enclothed cognition.

Enclothed cognition refers to the influence clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes. To give an extreme example, imagine sitting at your office desk in your bathing suit. How different would your mannerisms be? How awkward would you feel? The reason we obsess over clothing, comfort and style-whether we realize it or not-is all due to enclothed cognition. Yoga pants’ popularity has arisen from enclothed cognition. They offer comfort, specifically the feeling that we can do physically anything in yoga pants. And they offer style and versatility.

I’m off-topic, because I was going to tell you where you should never where yoga pants, right? Sometimes they can make us look sexy and hot, but they can be too hot when you go to the doctor’s office. If you have to get an MRI, you can’t wear them! Some hospitals have posted signs, warning patients to forgo the exercise wear when having an MRI done because some manufacturers use metallic fibers and the fibers can burn you if you wear them when you are getting scanned.

Here's a clue as to whether or not your clothes could burn you in an MRI. If the label says "anti-microbal" or "anti-bacterial" the garment probably has some metal fibers.