Researchers from Sweden had presented a report saying that wearing high heels may be associated with //higher incidence of mental disorders like schizophrenia etc.
Jarl Flensmark says high heels cause their wearers to tense their calves in a way that normal walking never does. That could prevent neuro-receptors in the calf muscles from triggering release of dopamine, a compound necessary for mental well-being.
"During walking, synchronized stimuli from mechanoreceptors in the lower extremities increase activity in cerebellothalamo-cortico-cerebellar loops through their action on NMDA-receptors," Flensmark wrote in a recent paper in the journal Medical Hypotheses.
"Using heeled shoes leads to weaker stimulation of the loops. Reduced cortical activity changes dopaminergic function, which involves the basal gangliathalamo-cortical-nigro-basal ganglia loops," he said.
Long term wearing of high heels could conceivably explain why Western societies have higher rates of schizophrenia among women then do other societies where high heels are rarely worn.
"Heeled footwear," he writes, "began to be used more than 1,000 years ago, and led to the occurrence of the first cases of schizophrenia ... Industrialization of shoe production increased schizophrenia prevalence.
"Mechanization of the production started in Massachusetts, spread from there to England and Germany, and then to the rest of Western Europe. A remarkable increase in schizophrenia prevalence followed the same pattern."
Flensmark says he has done painstaking research into his subject.
"The oldest depiction of a heeled shoe comes from Mesopotamia, and in this part of the world we also find the first institutions making provisions for mental disorders ... In the beginning, schizophrenia appears to be more common in the upper classes."
He cites evidence from other parts of the world, too - Turkey, Taiwan, the Balkans, IrePage: 1 2 3 Related medicine news :1
. Stroke Patients May Benefit By Wearing Cooling Helmets2
. Masking A Flu? – Wearing Masks, Only Way to Contain It’s Spred3
. Wearing No-line Bifocals Slows Myopia Progression in Some Children4
. Breast Cancer and Bra Wearing: Possibly Linked5
. Don’t Blame the High Heels6
. Husband Cools His Heels in Jail After Kidnapping Wife from Hospital7
. Antibiotics Dangerous for Diarrhoea in Children Caused by E.Coli8
. Dangerous food bacteria9
. Breaking up Dangerous Clots
. Weight-loss Products Dangerous 11
. Human Growth Hormone Found To be Dangerous For Human Use