Just another reason to accept your belly in all its glory.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever squeezed into a skintight dress or pair of pants, studied your profile, and sucked it in just enough to smooth your tummy area. We’ve all done it at some point: From a young age, we’re bombarded with bizarre and sometimes unsafe advice on how to slim our waists — from crash diets to Kardashian-branded waist trainers that are just glorified corsets.
All of that messaging has led generations of people to engage in the seemingly innocuous behavior of “sucking it in” in an effort to fit into clothes or look a little slimmer; it’s sort of a cheat to a flatter stomach. In fact, many people adjust their stomachs like this for much of their waking lives, whether they realize it or not. (You could be doing it this very moment.) It royally sucks, pun intended, that we feel the need to do it at all, but when you suck in your stomach more frequently than for the occasional photo op, it can actually develop into an unhealthy mental habit mentally — and even lead to medical issues.
This uncomfortable, unnecessary tic creates a barrier to body acceptance, and can cause some nasty side effects, which have come to be known as “hourglass syndrome.” Here’s a look at what the condition is and how you can treat it.
What is hourglass syndrome?
Stomach gripping, or contracting the upper abdominal muscles for long periods, has the potential to warp the body in strange ways. It’s less of a concern if you’re momentarily flattening your tummy to zip up some stubborn jeans; the problem is that so many of us aren’t just doing it every now and then, but during all conscious hours of the day. On TikTok, users have shared how — moved by the absurdity of modern beauty standards — they suck in their stomachs without even really thinking about it. One woman on the platform says she’s been sucking in for “as long as I can remember.”
This habit can lead to back pain, pelvic-floor issues, trouble breathing, and can even “disfigure the abdomen,” says Robert Hayden, a chiropractor in Georgia and a spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association. If you’re chronically sucking in, Hayden says your upper abs will become very developed and tense. That doesn’t sound too bad, right? Wrong. They may appear more defined, he says, but then your lower abs could look softer, resulting in a dimpling or a crease that forms at the base of the ribs — a telltale sign of hourglass syndrome. But if you’re checking yourself out in the bathroom mirror and notice this in your gut, don’t freak out. It’s not permanent and should fade over time — if you stop stomach gripping, Hayden says.
The more distressing issues aren’t just cosmetic: One is an impact on breathing. Stomach gripping restricts the motion of the diaphragm, a muscle located below the lungs. This muscle contracts when you breathe, pulling down on the lungs, allowing them to expand so you can draw air in. Normally, your belly would expand too, but if you keep it squeezed in, you’re actually cutting off the amount of air that could be flowing into your lungs by as much as 30 percent, Adam Browning, a Cleveland Clinic chiropractor tells TODAY.
The habit can also put a lot of stress on your pelvic floor. Constantly tensing these muscles exerts force down onto the pelvic floor muscles, which can overwhelm them, the Washington Post reports. If you’re already dealing with urinary incontinence, this may worsen it. And if painful sex is something you’re struggling with, a tight pelvic floor might have something to do with it.
Constant stomach squeezing can also lead to chronic pain that radiates up into the neck, shoulders, and back. Browning explains: “As your body tries to find space for your ribs to expand, your lungs start to press upward instead of down, which can cause neck pain. Because of how your muscles are attached, this upward movement can cause increased structural strain in the mid and lower back, which are anchors for your contracting abdominal muscles.”
How to treat hourglass syndrome
It’s not easy to break a bad habit (just ask anyone who’s ever tried to stop biting their nails). But there are some steps you can take to quit. The first is to recognize when you’re doing it, whether it’s during your morning walk or strolling around the office in that old skirt that’s become just a tad too tight. “Awareness is half the battle,” Julie Wiebe, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, tells the Washington Post.
Next, you have to retrain your muscles by encouraging your stomach to relax. You can do this by practicing “diaphragmatic breathing,” where your belly expands when you take a deep breath in, the Cleveland Clinic recommends. You can certainly practice this on your own, but you may also want the support of a chiropractor, physical therapist, or doctor, Hayden says. And of course, it might pay to get at the root of the problem and dissect why you feel the need to suck in at all. Accepting and appreciating your body for what it is can be a long, difficult process, but it’s worth it — especially if it means living without the discomfort of hourglass syndrome.
