Taking a middle course

It’s easy to become fixated on the size of your belly and width of your waist. Diet, stress, sedentary behaviors and postural issues

Acknowledging the need to focus on breathing, releasing tension, spinal motion and movement in all directions—and learning how to do this with the right exercises—can help you foster a happy relationship with your middle.

And don’t forget the importance of good sleep hygiene and stress management. Both can help to keep the weight off and your tummy trim.

Supporting good sleep

Doing low-intensity exercise in the early evening can help promote good sleep quality, particularly if you also stay away from screens, which can interfere with production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

Overnight, melatonin affects the storage of fat by increasing brown adipose (fat) tissue, the ‘good fat’ that uses up energy rather than storing it. This also reduces the accumulation of ‘bad’ white fat in the abdominal region—the whole effect happens through a process called thermogenesis, where the body burns calories to produce heat.

Indeed, a recent study found that the better your sleep quality, the greater the success of lifestyle interventions