The world's 10 best nude beaches

If there's one problem with nude beaches, it's that you can't control who actually takes off their clothes. Also, sand gets everywhere. Even so, they're still better than regular beaches by virtue of one simple fact -- they have naked people.

As we've already shared our favorite nude beaches in the US (and then, again, in the Bay Area) and outlined the rules of nudist resorts, here's our list of the 10 most sizzling seaside spots around the globe to soak up the sun, au naturel.

Read article, see photos

Rio de Janeiro opens first nudist beach

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second largest city, has just opened its first nudist beach after a successful campaign by pro-nudity activists.

Though Brazilians are known for their floss-like string bikinis, Rio is viewed as a traditionally conservative city with many “frowning upon topless sunbathing” and public nudity, according the The Daily Mail.

Abrico beach, which will now allow for nude sunbathers, is located about an hour from the city center. While the city has miles of pristine beaches to visit close to its commercial neighborhoods, the decision to locate the controversial beach was intentional.

“This is a courageous decision by the mayor and it will help Rio become a cultural and tourist reference point, especially with the city about to celebrate its 450th anniversary and the 2016 Olympic Games,” Paula Nogueira, a pro-nudist activist who organized a topless protest in Ipanema last year, told the Rio's O Dia paper.

More here

New direction for this blog

I've decided to turn this blog into a tourism blog for nudism. I'm getting too old to be an activist, I'll leave that to younger and more energetic folks. So I'll highlight nude beaches around the world, nude cruising, some resorts, and some nude events. Just a small note tonight, see you all later.

Stripped Down to the Bare Truth: Why Naked Reality Shows Are Good for Our Country

Excerpt

Based on the ratings, people can't get enough of naked reality shows. But instead of bringing the quality of entertainment down, naked reality shows are actually doing something good for our country.

"Honestly, we live in a country that can be really prude about nudity and associates it with sex and I think that's so negative," Dating Naked host Amy Paffrath told us. "I'm glad that there are all these naked shows out there now because it actually helps people feel more comfortable with themselves. They see representations of what their body looks like through the different images on TV. We see a wide spectrum on our show of height, weight, color, age, and I think it's going to open up the doors for people to accept themselves more and realize that everything on TV is not model-thin women with perfect bodies. These are just regular people and we all have bodies and it's totally acceptable to love yourself just the way you are, the good, the bad, the ugly. It's all beautiful."

Full article is here.

I Watched “Dating Naked” - New Yorker

By Ian Crouch

VH1 is currently airing a reality show called “Dating Naked,” and you would be forgiven for assuming—or even, let’s be honest, hoping—that it was the stage for a hedonistic, debauched scene of young singles gone wild. The nervous folks at the Parents Television Council certainly did; they issued a statement condemning McDonald’s for sponsoring such obvious filth. But this is light cable TV, suitable, as the show’s rating tells us, for anyone over fifteen: the bodies are mostly waxed and safely blurred, and the bad words bleeped. And the singles, though they have signed up to travel to an oceanfront resort in Panama and naked-date nominal strangers for the viewing enjoyment of other strangers, are a circumspect, conservative bunch.

“I want the whole white-picket fence, a dog, some kids, you know, everything,” Joe, a twenty-four-year-old from Long Island who is the male contestant on the first episode, says. He’d been married once, but it didn’t work out. “Dating naked gives me a way to trust someone possibly again.” His female counterpart, a thirty-six-year-old woman named Wee Wee, appeared to be a likely match: “I do have a ticking clock, so it is important for me to meet someone who would like to have children.” Later, she tears up when telling the camera, “I want a family of my own.”

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This Is What Breasts Really Look And Feel Like

We see breasts every day on billboards, in magazines, on HBO. They're photoshopped and perfectly lit, idealized fantasy versions of reality. Weirdly, it can sometimes seem that the breasts we see the least of are our own, and the way we talk about them reflects that.

When breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! initially asked women to describe their breasts for the What Normal Feels Like campaign, they almost universally picked a size. Big, small, maybe somewhere in the middle. But, as CoppaFeel! argues in the campaign, there's so much more to our breasts, and it's about time we got acquainted.

"When we describe our breasts, we only refer to their size and quite often we’re not even nice about it; hands up who answered tiny or saggy? Well, this year, we want you to get to know your boobs, have a good feel and think about what new words you could use to describe them," CoppaFeel! writes on its website.

The charity's end goal is to encourage more women to complete self breast exams so that they can get a feel for how their breasts are normally, and be able to identify any changes. The campaign they launched to get there is pretty powerful.

Just in time for October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, CoppaFeel! will be displaying photos of seven shirtless women on billboards throughout the United Kingdom.

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GoTopless Pride Parade and other events around the world on Aug 24

LAS VEGAS, August 20 - The women's rights organization GoTopless will hold Go Topless Pride Parades and other events in over 60 cities worldwide for its 7th annual GoTopless Day,August 24, according to a statement released today by GoTopless.

“Equal topless rights for women is a constitutional right,” said Rachel Jessee, New York City’s GoTopless leader. “The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution specifies equal rights for everyone. That includes the right to expose body parts common to both genders, including the chest and nipples."

The states of New York, Texas and North Carolina are a few states that already honor the Constitution but many cities in those states have passed unconstitutional ordinances to prevent women from going sans shirt.

GoTopless’s goal is “to eliminate the current double standard,” Jessee said. “If women can’t go topless, the only way to ensure equality is to make men cover their chests too, as spiritual leader Rael declared when he inspired GoTopless in 2007.”

Jessee pointed out that before 1936, people thought it indecent for men to go bare-chested in public.

“Women's ankles, knees and belly buttons were taboo back then, but today nobody bats an eye,” Jessee said. “Why should showing breasts be different?”

She emphasized that GoTopless members don’t bare their breasts to attract attention.

“Showing female breasts should be a natural part of life, a non-event,” Jessee said. “The right to go topless is immensely empowering for women after centuries of living under macho laws and puritanical Judeo-Christian values.”

Living under such constraints is debilitating to a woman’s self-esteem and body image, Jessee said.

Read more

More here

The Nude in Fine Art

See many more artistic depictions of nudity, some going back centuries. Enjoy the Pinterest site by well known internet nude advocate Chet Kresiak. Click here to go to the main site.

Curvy model's nude stance on sexualisation

Excerpt from article

Of course the busy backdrop meant the glares and stares from rubbernecking residents at the models uncovered girl curves were totally understandable but when asked if anyone seemed overtly offended by her display of womanhood the model says "not a single one".

The portraits, snapped by New York based photographer JD Forte, depict the size 14 model in various states of undress from topless to fully nude.

The former Melbournian says the project is intended to be a comment on gender inequality which Valdes says is still rampant in New York City even though it is commonly considered the epicentre of modern civilization.

"A man can walk down the street with his chest seen and you wouldn't blink an eye and say to your friends 'Well that’s sacred and he should cover up his chest for his partner'. You don’t say that," she says emphatically.

"Women have been objectified and banned, shamed or made to feel like its taboo to show themselves because we are an item to be sexually desired and nothing more."

Read full article here

Go Topless Day occurs in Vancouver on August 24

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Miley Cyrus Goes Topless In The Desert Because, Why Not

What a view.

Miley Cyrus found an interesting way to stay cool in the desert on July 21, as the 21-year-old stripped down to nothing but a pair of jean shorts. Considering she looks like she's in the middle of nowhere, this bold move easily could've gone unnoticed. But it wouldn't be Miley if she didn't share the topless photo with the world:

See photo, and a great slideshow of 76 celebrities who go topless

Ladies, Ditch the Bra

I realize it may feel some combination of uncomfortable, unprofessional, or unnecessarily provocative. Societal convention has most of us trussing up before going out.

If you are reading this at home, do me a favor and unhook. Then keep reading.
There's Some Evidence of a Relationship Between Bras and Breast Cancer.

Yes, seriously.

Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras

Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer authored a book called Dressed To Kill. They interviewed 4,000+ women in five major U.S. cities over two years. Half the women had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They found:

75% of women who slept in their bras developed breast cancer
1 in 7 who wore their bras 12+ hours per day developed breast cancer
1 in 168 who did not wear a bra developed breast cancer
Within one month of ditching their bras, women with cysts, breast pain, or tenderness found their symptoms disappeared.

Breast Size, Handedness, and Breast Cancer Risk

A 1991 article in the European Journal of Cancer found that premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users. The data also suggest that bra cup size (and breast size) may be a risk factor for breast cancer.

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What does it mean if you wear nothing between the sheets?

There was thought-provoking news for lovers this month. It was reported that people who sleep naked have happier relationships. In a survey of 1,000 Britons, 57% of naked sleepers reported feeling “happy” in love, the most in any group. The cotton-promoting body that commissioned the study explained its findings with all the creepy gravitas of Peter Stringfellow giving a physics lecture: “Bedding can feel extremely soft against the skin, encouraging openness and intimacy between couples and ultimately increasing happiness.”

If this is true, not only does it mean that nocturnal nudists are happier in love, it also means that’s because they’re the kind of insatiate bonobos who become aroused at the mere caress of a flat sheet from Debenhams. I can’t help having my doubts. Perhaps there is some other key to contentment. You know, one that isn’t mad and from a made-up-sounding survey.

I don’t want to sound too down on nudity. Full disclosure: sometimes I think boobs look like scary eyes. But generally, technically, theoretically, I’m in favour. Some of history’s most inspiring people were also nudists. William Blake, Walt Whitman, even Benjamin Franklin, who apparently used to call letting it all hang out an “air bath”.

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Nudists on cruises - The right to bare arms, legs and other body parts

AMERICANS are, on the whole, much more squeamish about public nudity than Europeans. Even a toddler frolicking naked on a sunny beach attracts disapproving frowns. No federal law bars public nudity, but plenty of state and local rules do. Last summer, for example, New York began enforcing a state law banning public nudity, nixing the state’s last remaining nudist haunt on Fire Island. Only a handful of beaches in America officially allow folks to bob away in the buff.

Yet as National Nude Recreation Week begins on July 7th, American naturists are grinning and baring it. Tourism by the tan-line-averse generates more than $440m a year, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). Early nudists may have been happy gathering at campsites, but today they like to be pampered. Of the more than 250 nudist and clothing-optional resorts and clubs sprinkled around the country, the small mom-and-pop operations are folding, while the survivors are going upmarket, says Susan Weaver of AANR. The Cypress Cove Nudist Resort & Spa in Florida, for example, began in the 1960s as “basically a lakefront with a windscreen,” says Ted Hadley, its owner. Now it is a 300-acre resort, with hot tubs, restaurants, and a spa.

More at the Economist

That Old Nude vs. Sex Thing

By Steve Jacobson

Assuming that most people who read this blog are nudists, this may be preaching to the choir, but even within the nudist lifestyle there are a lot of people who cannot separate the idea of being nude with the sexual act. Going from club to club, it’s truly amazing the different attitudes concerning what is sexual and what is not.

There are clubs that will not allow anyone to hold hands while being nude. There are clubs that will not allow tattoos or piercings for fear of being too sexual. At some clubs you cannot repeat an “off color” joke, no matter how funny it is. Then there are clubs that require clothing to be worn while dancing. And, of course, there are clubs that promote themselves as sexually open and have no problem with overt sexual activities. Yes, there is a third type of club that has found that balance between being overt sexually or scared to show any sexuality. The fact that you have these three different types of clubs makes it more confusing to separate the idea between being nude and having sex.

Talk to most anyone who is not a nudist and they will automatically assume that there are some sort of sexual implications associated with being a nudist. Some nudists go overboard trying to deny any sexuality with nudism. Hey folks, we are human and in being so, we are sexual in nature. The fact we are nudist has nothing to do with our natural sexual drive and enjoyment. As nudists, we may be better at controlling any overt sexual advances being more aware of what is appropriate and what is not.

Full piece is here

Scientists May Have Found Humankind's Original Addiction

In studying how ultraviolet radiation affects skin, scientists may have stumbled across humankind's original addiction: sunlight.

A new study in the journal Cell shows that UV radiation, even in modest amounts, prompts production of the "feel-good" hormone beta-endorphin that numbs mice to pain. When scientists blocked beta-endorphin with the drug Naloxone (used to combat heroin overdoses in hospital emergency rooms), UV-exposed mice experienced withdrawal symptoms: shaking, teeth-chattering and jumpiness.

It's the first time scientists have thoroughly mapped out the pathway in mice from UV exposure, to rising beta-endorphin levels in the blood, to physical dependence on sunlight. The findings add to a field of research that examines extreme tanning as a possible addiction in humans, and could explain why people love to sunbathe -- even though it's clear that UV rays damage skin cells, age skin prematurely and cause skin cancer.

In addition, the findings could pave the way for more research on battling opiate addiction in general, since beta-endorphins are opioids -- our body's own natural version of opiate-like drugs.

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Model Natalia Vodianova Instagrams Stunning Breastfeeding Photo

Blogger Mama Bean recently addressed the question many breastfeeders have heard before, "Do we really need to see it?"

To that question, she says, "Yes... because if we continue to treat it as a secret art form, reserved for private rooms and hushed conversations, it will remain a taboo. It will become lost in the passage of time, further misunderstood and out of reach for future mothers."

Her declaration makes it all the more refreshing to see a supermodel sharing a breastfeeding photo on Instagram.

Natalia Vodianova, a Russian model notable for her work with Calvin Klein, released the first photo of her son, Maxim, who was born in early May. Unsurprisingly, it is a beautiful moment between mother and baby.

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Rihanna’s practically naked dress: Why it might be one of the most powerful feminist statements the pop world has made to date

The world’s media are still talking about Rihanna and her ‘scandalous’ near-naked dress this morning.

How very dare a woman turn up to an awards ceremony looking so brazenly intimidating, the press cried? How could she possibly eschew society’s norms of how a woman should dress at such an event and look so defiantly sexy? Why isn’t she wearing a bra?

“The naughty outfit left nothing to the imagination,” wrote one publication, adding that “one wonders what Anna Wintour [another show guest and the editor of US Vogue] thought” of the attire.

“Rude girl Rihanna is trend-setter, but let’s not copy this one girls,” bemoaned another.

But few British newspapers and their online counterparts went as far as to boycott the image and not publish it at all, despite seemingly taking the ‘moral high ground’. Whether they agree with the shimmering statement or not, Rihanna succeeded in shocking everyone – which is probably exactly what she wanted.

Read the rest

Best Nudist Resorts Around The World

Nudist and naturist resorts are getting more and more popular and many is popping in every corner of the world. Here are the ten best nudist resorts in the world.

Caliente Caribe, Dominican Republic set aside several weeks in a year only for nudists. There is an overlooking view of the sparkling Caribbean added the fact that the attentive staff keep things low-key. Sometimes, it can be quiet if there is no theme or lifestyle week, therefore, visitors can choose to enjoy a nearly empty resort or go when a lifestyle week matches their own. The Caliente Caribe has a sister resort in Tampa, Florida and also offers erotic cruises

Recanto Paraiso, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on of the biggest resort in Brazil, has its promise of finding peace and has been keeping it by the surrounding lush mountains and blue skies. The resort also offers roomy chalets and camping areas. What is more, the naturist resort is a haven from urban stress. The resort is committed to customer satisfaction as well as several pools and events.

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The UK is too prudish: We should follow Munich's example and legalise public nudity

The news that public nudity has been legalised in Munich is good to hear. It's common sense thinking, and a public service to the city’s naturists.

That said, the legal changes don't actually change anything. Nudity always has been legal in parts of Munich’s Englischer Garten. However, after state-wide laws prohibiting nude sunbathing expired last autumn, the local authority decided to uphold the individual’s right to undress in public, and create six designated nudist zones.

Munich’s naturists can now walk around freely in these areas, and without fear of harassment. Their needs are being taken seriously.

By contrast, there are no such provisions for naturists in London. The only chance to do so takes place in a small pocket of Bloomsbury each Sunday, where there is a two-hour nude swimming session. However, there are no dedicated open spaces in the city.

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Artist Challenges The Pattern Of Food-Shaming Women With Stunning Nude Self Portraits

For many, a snack is not just a snack. Whether serving as a means of rebellion, a secret indulgence, a compulsory drug or a well-deserved reward, a seven layer cake often has a few extra layers of meaning beneath the surface. As if everyone's relationship with food wasn't complicated enough, the public seems to have endless things to say about women and their dining preferences. Remember how much the internet freaked out when Lena Dunham ate a cupcake in the bathtub?

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Why you need a social media free of censorship

What I need

What we need, is a media, where you can express yourself in the same ways, that is possible on both Facebook and Google+, where I can choose to write, what I want and show the pictures that I want. All users of the media should have the possibilty to say: “I don’t want this kind of post on my wall”, and the social media should learn from my actions and don’t show me the post I don’t want to be shown

I want a Social media where I decide which content is appropriate for me and not what is appropriate for all people around the world.

There might be some content which is not for everyone. Then make a “Explicit content prompting” and make people choose for themselves. The free choice is not actually a choice on Facebook and other Social Medias, it is a choice from “dictatorship”, where one “unit” decides, what all people should do. In this case we talk about “unit” which affects most of the western world.

Every time you make a post, you could decide if you thought the material was “Explicit content” and other people could mark the post, a person made, as “Explicit content”.

There are many great ideas for what a great social media could look like, but in short terms – I just want a censor free Social Media. I am pretty sure, that if we can handle war, rape, hate, and violence, surely we can handle seeing a naked body too!

The full post is here

How to be Successful in Naturism

Naturism is a wonderful way to live. Nudity is bliss. However, to the newbie nudie, it can be daunting to take the first steps. The following are some of my tips to make nude recreation and life more enjoyable.

1. One of the most difficult things for a new naturist is where to look. I’ve seen and been the new naturist that stares at the ground the whole time. My advice is to look at people’s faces. Make eye contact. People talk to each other while making eye contact. Having a conversation nude is the same as having a conversation clothed. It would be weird if you stared at someone’s groin while talking to them, the same is true clothed or nude. My advice is to treat being nude as being clothed in regards to how you look at people.

Read the full post here

Lena Dunham, Nude Appearance Broadens Definition of Beauty [Video]

Lena Dunham’s hit show Girls has been the topic of much discussion throughout its first three seasons. Most reviews seem to be either extremely in favor of, or extremely against the show, but in spite of mixed reactions, Girls has been maintaining a strong following. To many, Dunham’s “Hannah” is more than just a fictional character, she is representative of an archetype left out of most mainstream shows. Hannah Horvath does not have the perfect body, or say the right things; she is not the prettiest girl in the room. Because she does not meet the conventional standard of beauty, Dunham’s recent nude appearance on SNL has made her one of the pioneers in the fight to broaden the definition of beauty.

More here

Why are we naked?

There are lots of theories as to why we lost our fur, the two most commonly accepted are to reduce the parasite load that fur bearing animal carry and secondly to aid in our ability to hunt larger animals. Humans are not only one of the few mammals that are naked, but also one of the few mammals that sweat through the skin. The sweating through the skin gives us the ability to run long distances over long periods of time and to lose the body heat generated quickly and efficiently. Other mammals can only lose the heat generated through their mouths or paws. By picking and pursuing one weak individual in a herd, we could chase that animal till it literally fell over from heat exhaustion and we could club or spear it to death. Humans on the plains of Africa that still hunt this way, can pursue an animal all day long.9152702

So nakedness is part of our strategy for survival. Running with clothes on is a detriment to the chase because like our prey, we overheat. Our bodies are very effective at moderating temperature, we adjust to heat by sweating, to cold by shivering to keep warm, the hair on our heads is to protect us from the sun and the cold, but are bodies are meant to be naked.

Read the whole piece here

Top 10 tips for first time nakations

Planning on taking a nakation (nude vacation) for the first time? If you're going to shed your inhibitions -- and clothes -- on your next vacation, there are a few tips and rules you should follow. The American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR) has compiled a list of the 10 things first-time nakationers need to know.

See the slideshow for the tips, here

Pope Frank To Mothers In Sistine Chapel: Nurse Your Babies If You Need To

He's such a human being, isn't he? So nice to see such a sensible man as Pope!

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis baptized 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday and told their mothers, including one who was married in a civil service rather than in church, to have no qualms about breastfeeding them there.

Unlike his predecessors, who usually delivered long and theology-laden homilies at the yearly baptism event, the pope offered a brief, improvised homily of some 300 words centered on the children.

"Today, the choir will sing, but the most beautiful choir of all is the choir of the infants who will make a noise. Some will cry because they are not comfortable or because they are hungry," he said in a familiar, relaxed tone to the parents.

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Salon - 6 reasons female nudity can be powerful

Last week, in the midst of what appears to be infinite fascination about Lena Dunham’s nudity, I saw a fundraiser for the documentary “Free the Nipple“ and also, by coincidence, talked to Facebook spokespeople about that company’s ban on visible female nipples. Like the reporter who recently asked Dunham why her “Girls” character was “often naked at random times for no reason,” many people seem confounded by expressions of female nudity that are not sexual – because isn’t titillation the whole point of women’s nakedness? The real question about female nudity isn’t why anyone would want to show or see women’s breasts if they’re not titillating. The real question is about who has the right to say what they’re for, where and when they can be seen and by whom. That’s about power.

While it’s irksome that the reporter questioning Dunham had to ask at all, it’s an important question. It revealed how little he, and so many others, has thought about a topic that affects all the women he’s ever known.

Why is exposing the world to non-sexualized female nudity important?

Full piece is here

WH petition gaining momentum

New stats on the WH petition asking the Obama Administration to: Designate portions of public lands under management of the federal government for clothing-optional recreational use. When this update was published, 102 awesome people had already signed the petition!

The ultimate goal of course is to get the requisite 100,000 signatures that will require an official response from policy makers. That will give the naturist/nudist community the best chance at obtaining fair and equitable access to our nation’s wilderness park lands, national forests and seashores.

But the immediate goal is to get as quickly as possible the first 150 signatures that will make the petition “searchable” on the “We the People” website. That’s important because it will raise awareness. Right now the only way people know about the petition is if they see and follow the link to it provided through social media outlets.

[LEARN MORE ————> Clothing-Optional Access] Click here

Designate portions of wilderness public lands under management of the National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service for clothing-optional recreational use.

We, the undersigned call for the establishment of officially designated, properly signed, clothing-optional recreation areas within the national parks, forests and other federally managed public lands to allow fair and equitable access to users who enjoy outdoor clothing-optional recreation, modeled after the successful and popular Gunnison Beach clothing-optional recreation area that is part of the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area managed by the NPS.

Understand the argument! Please visit http://clothing-optional-access.weebly.com

Created: Jan 13, 2014
Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Natural Resources, Regulatory Reform
Learn about Petition Thresholds
Signatures needed by February 12, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000
99,701
Total signatures on this petition
299

Want to feel better? Take it all off, as experts say sleeping nude has health benefits

The Yuletide season is upon us and though we all enjoy the festive holidays, they can dump a truck load of stress on our already over-wrought shoulders.

But experts say there is one sure-fire way we can feel better and that is to take it all off.

Yes, as in all the way down to our “birthday suits.” A recent study shows that sleeping naked has several health benefits, reports blackdoctors.org, but surprising statistics also reveal that only a few indulge is this wondrously freeing night ritual.

There I was thinking everyone slept in the nude like moi but alas it looks like Americans are more conservative than they let on for less than 10 percent reportedly slips between the sheets without their PJs or nighties.

But maybe after reading these pros for nudity, the cons will cease to exist.

Besides making you feel luxuriously sexy, which I will put as number one, sleeping naked can reportedly also do the following:

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