Undie Chronicles, Vol. 20: Control Your Appetite With…a Mood Bra!

Those of you who are new to More Cowbell might have missed The Undie Chronicles. The regular posse here knows: When the Undie-verse speaks, we will always listen. Who’d have ever thought we’d get to Volume TWENTY of this series? Not me. I had no idea when this began that there were so many hilarious things to wear under our clothes.

Hubby saw this headline in the L.A. Times earlier this week:

Microsoft mood bra: Embedded sensors may keep you from pigging out.

Now that’s an eye-grabbing headline.

I’m sorry to say our guys are gonna miss out on the ‘full experience’ this time unless they’re in the mood to cross-dress. (Hey, I don’t judge.) Researchers were unable to design a similar underwear technology for men because “the sensors proved to be too far from the heart to take an accurate measurement.” *giggling*

Perhaps you can gift it to some of the gals in your life, especially if they’re dieting or tend to be emotional eaters.

Here’s a quick summary of how it works:

A team of researchers at Microsoft developed the smart bra that comes embedded with sensors, similar to that of an EKG, that monitor a woman’s heart rate to track the wearer’s emotional state throughout the day to help tackle emotional eating.

[No offense, but that better be a damn strong sensor.]

From Microsoft Handout ~ via LA Times

The data is provided to the wearer via a smartphone app and warn when emotional eating is likely to occur, according to BBC.

According to Microsoft’s own report, 87.5% of bra-wearing participants reported that they became more aware of their emotions while using the app.

[I can only imagine how happy they were to get that information.]

However, only 37.5% of participants reported that their eating behaviors changed.

Am I alone in thinking that an app that shows me I’m emotional is only going to make me more emotional? I mean, what hormonal female do YOU know who gets more pleasant when you point out that she’s acting hormonal?

Yeah. I don’t know any either.

Now that I’m really pondering this, I’m wondering if the 37.5% change in habits was to eat more or less. Hmmmm….

Technology is so fascinating, don’t you think? If the Microsoft think-tank is willing to enter the Undies Market, there’s no telling where they’ll go next!

What would YOU like Microsoft to invent for us? Do I have any readers who would like to be on the beta-test list for these bras? Do you think they’d actually work? Enquiring minds love to know these things here at More Cowbell!

~ Jenny