Americans are getting less sleep than ever these days and it’s taking a toll on our health—most visibly on our waistlines. Losing just 30 minutes of sleep per night can make you gain weight, according to a study done by the Endocrine Society. Worse, that weight is more likely to go straight to your tummy. Instead, the researchers found, the best sleep cycle is one that follows your natural circadian rhythms, which means sleeping and waking around the same time as the sun. Here are the 7 ways to banish belly bloat in your sleep.
For example, dangerous visceral fat — the type of deep fat that tends to accumulate near your belly, surrounding your vital organs — raises the risk for serious conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and many others. According to a report published in the Lancet, as of 2005, globally “Excess body weight was the sixth most important risk factor contributing to the overall burden of disease worldwide.” (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2005 approximately 1.6 billion people worldwide were overweight and that at least 400 million adults were obese.