You might not even realise you’re doing it, but for many women, unnecessarily sucking in your stomach is a normal part of life. Who knows how we learned it, but we’ve been doing it for years. Walking past your reflection at a bus stop? Suck it in. Putting on a tight pair of jeans? Suck harder. Assessing what an outfit looks like? Keep sucking.

In fact, take a moment while you’re reading this to actively let your stomach hang out. There’s a good chance that you’ve been holding in your belly subconsciously. It feels really weird to not have it pulled in. But increasingly, we’re finding out just how bad all that constant core engagement might be for our bodies. 

It sounds counterintuitive to say that by engaging the core muscles frequently, we might end up with weaker abdominal or pelvic control, but sucking your tummy in restricts your intestines – which need room to function properly – and can lead to all kinds of issues with your internal organs and other parts of the body.

There’s even a collective name for sucking-related issues: hourglass syndrome.

It’s largely characterised by core pain, but you may also experience lower back pain, abdominal pain or find it hard to breathe from your stomach (which is what we should all be aiming to do – particularly when trying to calm down). It might also feel uncomfortable to relax the ab muscles.

It’s possible to develop the syndrome at any size or fat percentage; it’s nothing to do with being overtrained or your weight.

When I was at school, our ballet teacher used to tell us to spend our time at the bus stop doing pelvic floor exercises (a good use of time) and to suck our stomachs in while dancing (not so good). As such, I always equated doing so with having a strong core; if dancers sucked their stomachs, it probably had some athletic purpose beyond looking cool (this was peak size 0 culture, remember).  

It may come as a surprise to learn that constantly engaging the abs really does nothing to make them stronger at all. Muscle strengthening is the result of lengthening and shortening muscle fibres. Think about it: a key core-strengthening exercise is the dead bug. While keeping the back flat on the floor, you’re elongating the muscles by extending the arms and legs, and shortening them by bringing everything back into tabletop. 

There’s only so much development that’s going to happen by staying in that extended, engaged position (which is called dish hold). It serves a purpose but only if you’re doing other forms of strengthening and conditioning. 

Our abs are some of the hardest-working muscles in the body. They keep us upright, allow us to pick up cups of coffee and protect our vital organs. Hourglass syndrome happens when you’ve been sucking for so long, you’ve caused a physical change in the structure of the abdominal wall. Not only can it be uncomfortable, but it can also impact your internal organs (kind of like a tube of toothpaste being rolled up).

There are two main causes. One, obviously, is body image. Most of us have learned to suck in our stomachs so as to reduce the appearance of the very normal, cute pouch of fat that sits around our belly button. 

The other, according to Adam Taylor, professor and director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre at Lancaster University, is poor posture. Writing in The Conversation, he says that slouching and hunching can lead to the spine moving away from its normal, healthy S-shape – and that can create tension in the abs.  

It’s also worth flagging that if you live with chronic stomach pain (perhaps PMS that goes on for weeks, IBS or IBD cramps), you may well find that you try to accommodate that pain by holding yourself differently. If that’s the root cause of your stomach-sucking/hourglass syndrome, then you need to talk to your GP about how best to manage that discomfort.

Muscular imbalance

Whatever the reason for it, continual sucking can put more pressure on the lower back and neck, and that’s because those are the muscles that have to compensate for a change in core stability.

Breathing difficulties

If you’re squeezing your middle all the time, that’s going to stop your diaphragm from functioning properly. You can’t take full breaths when tensing your tummy as this prevents the diaphragm from dropping down into the abdomen, stopping the lungs from expanding properly. Studies have shown that too much shallow breathing activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system, causing you to feel stressed.

“In the short term, this may make it harder to exercise – and you may also feel fatigued due to reduced oxygen coming into the bloodstream,” writes Professor Taylor.

Pelvic floor issues

“Constant engagement of the core (this might be from sucking in your tummy or always feeling the need to brace hard in exercise) can lead to a shortening or tightening of the muscles,” personal trainer Beth Davies previously told Strong Women.

“The pelvic floor muscles are three layers of muscles that support the pelvic organs, contribute to the effective elimination of waste and support good sexual function. In a constantly shortened position, it becomes harder for them to relax and lengthen, so they may not be able to respond to the demands placed upon them.”

That can lead to leaking – particularly during high-impact activities like running and jumping. Oh, and it makes holding pee harder and sex less comfortable. 

If you’ve been sucking in your stomach for years, it’s going to be hard to suddenly stop, but it is reversible. After all, if yours is a body image issue, that can take years to work on. You might find that talking to someone can help; Beat is a great place to start in terms of finding support for disordered eating or body image therapy. 

For simply trying to crack a habit, get down onto all fours and simply let gravity to its thing. Let go. See how it feels to release those muscles. You might find it hard at first, but try it for a few seconds every day and practise relaxing.

You might find yoga poses like cat-cow help – moving the spine and really over-exaggerating that stomach stretch. It’s all about retraining your core to relax. You’ll get there in the end.

Images: Getty