Lose weight while you sleep
Often thought as a great factor causing weight loss is also often picked up as a remedy to lose weight.
So, is this story of sleeping less and losing weight true?
Let’s find out taking a look into few facts:
1. Why do we sleep?
Lose weight while you sleep requires us to learn these facts:
- To enable our brain recover from the overload of work that it does throughout the day
- Entire day comprises of building new connections within the brain, and it is during sleep when the brain decides what is important and what should be saved for later use (as per recent researches).
- Brain revives or powers up for its next day activities in its full efficiency during sleep
2. What happens when we sleep?
There are several stages that takes place while we are sleeping:
- We start sleeping and get into a light sleep
- Getting disengaged from surrounding
- Regular breathing and heart beat
- Temperature of the body slowly drops
- Blood pressure drops
- Muscles start to feel relaxed
- Muscles start to get increased blood supply
- Tissues repair and grow
- Restoration of energy
- Growth hormone is released (also helping muscle development)
- Energy supply to the brain
- Entire body feels relaxed and finally you have reached a stage of complete recovery
The other great facts are that sleep helps get a better immune system, in addition to helping us control our appetite which influences a lot in hormonal release like ghrelin and leptin.
If you are sleeping less you are encouraging the release of ghrelin and leading to the room of weight gain everyday.
3. How many hours of sleep is considered good?
Find out what is yours, your parent’s or your child’s recommended sleep hours for a great health:
- Older adults : aged 65 and above need 7-8 hours
- Adults : aged 26-64 need 7-9 hours
- Young adult : aged 18 – 25 need 7-9 hours
- Teenagers : aged 14-17 need 8-10 hours
- School kids : aged 6-13 need 9-11 hours
- Preschool kids : aged 3-5 need 10-13 hours
- Toddlers : aged 1-2 yrs need 11-14 hours
- Infants : aged 4-11 months need 12-15 hours
- New born : aged 0-3 months 14-17 hours
4. What happens when we sleep less?
- The genes involved in inflammation might increase their activity
- Reduces the capability of activity in your brain’s frontal lobe, which is meant for decision making and controlling impulse
- People snack more and they chose to snack on carbs rather than healthy diet
- In addition to above issues, also triggers eating bigger portion size which causes weight gain
5. What keeps us from getting enough sleep?
- Gadgets that we often carry to our bed (for chatting or checking emails)
- Consuming food such as coffee (due to presence of caffeine)
- Food like bacon, cheese, nuts before bed are also bad, as they contain a chemical called tyramine causing less sleep
- Red wine or any form of alcohol disturbs the usual 6-7 cycles of REM reducing it to 2 (Rapid Eye Movement, which is when our brain processes information we absorbed during the day)
- Depression, obesity, diabetes, and lower life expectancy
- Noisy and too much light near your sleeping area
- Irregular routines mostly when one has to travel on and off land or home town
- Wrong temperature can also disturb your sleep (too cold or too hot)
We must understand that sleep is a great nutrition for brain and in shortage of which your body starts acting weird in all sorts of ways, leading you to choose the wrong food and ultimately a bed of long lasting illness.
Reading all of these you must be willing to try your best to sleep right and make sure that you have a lovely night sleep to lose weight and not stick around watching the clock until you hear your night guard whistling away the dangers.
6. What can you do to sleep right?
Try these and may be you will wake up fresher next mornings to come.
- Stick to a great schedule fixing your sleep timings which you are not supposed to give up even on weekends
- Practice a bed time yoga to relax your mind and body, before going to bed for at least 2-3 minutes
- Exercise daily for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour (increase this time as per your convenience)
- Sleep where and how you feel comfortable
- Switch off electronics while going to bed
If you are one of those who is suffering from sleepless disorders then you must visit a doctor, as prolonged disorders could increase the chances of other diseases as well.
Make sleep a priority. Always try and relax your thoughts while going to bed and think all the positive things that took place throughout the day instead of cracking open the bad thoughts.
7. Can a good sleep help in weight loss program?
If you heard that sleeping will make you fat. Then, that’s a myth. If you sleep enough as recommended for your age and pick the right choice of food and exercise, then nothing can come your way of weight loss or even maintaining your healthy weight.
Sleeping well allows you to control your hormones and genes as you are sure of picking a healthy food to eat and can control many of your body’s functions like glucose metabolism, storing fatty acids, energy usage, and most importantly the feeling of being full in your belly.
Following these instructions will help you control your BMI (body mass index). Lower your stress level with the recommended sleep hours and ensure better journey of weight loss.
However, you should make sure that you do not exceed your recommended sleep hours by more than 1, as this will result in less activities during the day and you might get back to fighting on the weighing scale.
Sleep well, eat healthy and stay fit.
To get some more great tricks you can read these articles too:
Tricks to lose weight and stay fit
and most recommended Best exercise routine for weight loss
