Is your handbag damaging your health?

The best tip to take away from this is that we all need more handbags...

Bags, glorious bags. We love them, but it seems that sometimes they don’t love us back quite so much. From breaking your hair, to cutting up your arm muscles, here are the 7 common health problems our beloved arm candies can cause, and how to prevent them…

Is it ruining your posture? Most of us carry our bag on one side of the body because we think it’s the most comfortable position for us, but physically, this could be dragging us down and altering the way we naturally stand and walk. A bag shouldn’t ever weigh more than 10% of your total body weight, otherwise it will start to make you hunch. Solution: Switch sides every day. Monday you’re a lefty, Tuesday it’s on the right.

Is it cutting up your shoulders or hands? Some bag straps can be just plain spiteful. Too thin, or too stiff (like a metal or plastic number) and they can start to cut into our muscles causing a whole lotta pain. Solution: Never carry a heavy load in a bag with thin or inflexible straps.

Is it giving you a headache? Heavy bags can cause headaches. ‘Too much pressure on the trapezius muscle in the shoulder, which goes up the back of the neck to the skull can cause severe muscular tension headaches,’ Everyday Health reports. Solution: Lessen the load and, again, keep switching your bag position.

Is it hurting your elbow? Carrying your bags on the crook of your arm is not a good habit. Painful injuries like tendinitis or tennis elbow can occur when you overload your arms. Solution: Carry more than one bag and balance the weight across both arms.

Is it messing your back up? Too much weight on your shoulders can also cause your back to spasm and curvature of the spine or hunchback can occur in women with weaker bones. No one wants that now, do they? Solution: Have a handbag detox and only take essentials with you. You just don’t need all that heavy stuff as much as you need that posture you worked so hard at yoga for.

It’s breaking your hair? Ever found yourself yanking your hair out of a tangled shoulder strap? The revelation came the hard way for one blogger whose hairdresser noticed that her hair was much thinner on the side that she wore her satchel on. Solution: This one’s pretty simple. Sweep it to the side, wear it up, it doesn’t matter, just keep it out of the way of those straps.

Is it just full of germs? Fun fact, there is four times more bacteria in the average handbag than on the average toilet seat. Think of all the debris you throw in there – mobile phones, loose cash, makeup – plus all the places you might put it down on the floor – public toilets, the office, the tube – and then onto, say, your kitchen worktop? It’s no wonder it’s a breeding ground for germs... Solution: Have a thorough clean out with anti bac wipes at least once a week and keep it off the ground.

The best tip we think we can take away from all of this is that you need all kinds of bags - a variation of styles, straps and weights - in order to keep your muscles in even shape. So it’s time to top up our collection, then?