How Does Sleep Impact Weight Loss? New Study Suggests It Might Be the Key to Cutting Calories
- A new study suggests that getting more sleep could aid weight loss efforts.
- The study found that on average, people that got an additional 1.2 hours of sleep a night “significantly reduced” the number of calories consumed.
- “The findings suggest that improving and maintaining adequate sleep duration could reduce weight and be a viable intervention for obesity prevention and weight loss programs,” the researchers concluded.
The Tropical Secret for Healty Weight Loss Know more
This is the best selling product with the best Gravity score. Just check it out before you leave.
Weight loss is a complicated process, and it usually involves a few different factors, like eating well and exercising regularly. But new research has found there’s one easy tweak you can make that will help you easily cut back on how many calories you take in every day: Get more sleep.
The randomized clinical trial, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, featured 80 adults classified as overweight who regularly slept less than 6.5 hours a night. Researchers randomized them into a control group, which continued to follow their normal habits, and a group that was encouraged to extend their sleep every night for two weeks. On average, people in the extended sleep group got an additional 1.2 hours of sleep a night.
At the end of the study period, the researchers found that the sleep extension group “significantly reduced” the number of calories they took in by about 270 compared to the control group. Some study participants in the sleep extension group even cut their calories by up to 500 a day—which can help those looking to lose weight reach a calorie deficit. “The findings suggest that improving and maintaining adequate sleep duration could reduce weight and be a viable intervention for obesity prevention and weight loss programs,” the researchers concluded.
Obviously, weight loss is a personal thing and you should never feel pressured to lose weight. But, if you're interested in weight loss for your health, it's understandable to be curious about how this all works. Here's what you need to know about how getting more sleep could lead to weight loss.
The Tropical Secret for Healty Weight Loss Know more
How does sleep help weight loss?
This isn’t the first time sleep has been linked with weight loss efforts. Research has found that not getting enough sleep makes you want to eat more and usually causes people to take in more calories than they would otherwise.
Studies have found that lack of sleep also increases the levels of ghrelin, a hormone that controls hunger levels, along with the stress hormone cortisol—and together, those can mess with your appetite.
Lead study author Esra Tasali, M.D., director of the Sleep Research Center at The University of Chicago Medical Center, says that lack of sleep definitely interferes with appetite signals you get from your brain. “The brain regions are altered in such a way with sleep deprivation that it makes you crave carbs and sugar,” she says. But, when you get more sleep, these areas are not activated as much and your brain does a better job of syncing your appetite with your actual needs, she says.
Getting more sleep can even change the time you eat, which could lead to you taking in fewer calories, Dr. Tasali says. Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet, agrees. “If someone is going to bed earlier each night, there is less available time to spend in the kitchen,” she points out. “For many people, the later they stay up at night, the hungrier they get and the more likely they will consume more calories than they need.”
Waking up feeling refreshed versus wiped out can also help you make smart choices at breakfast, Gans says. “Lots of times, making better choices in the morning leads to a better overall day of eating,” she says.
“Think of a sleepy brain as essentially trying to eat itself awake,” says Christopher Winter, M.D., of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. “Also, sleepy people often use the very act of eating as a prop to keep them awake, like eating chips on a long car drive or while you study.”
The Tropical Secret for Healty Weight Loss Know more
How much sleep do I really need?
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that most healthy adults strive to get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. We know, this is often easier said than done.
While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services points out that getting enough sleep can help you maintain a healthy weight, the organization also lists plenty of other benefits to getting enough sleep. Those include:
- Getting sick less often
- Lowering your risk for developing serious health problems, like diabetes and heart disease
- Reducing stress and improving your mood
- Thinking more clearly and doing better in school and at work
- Getting along better with people
- Making good decisions
How can I get more sleep?
There’s usually more to weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight than getting enough sleep—but it definitely helps, says Scott Keatley, R.D., of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy. “A combination of going to bed a bit earlier, adjusting your diet to meet your needs, and getting in exercise is the ideal way to lose weight,” he says. “But it doesn’t have to be a full-court press the entire time. Work on what you can, make the small changes, and keep at them until it becomes habit.”
If you feel like you won't be able to suddenly tack on an extra hour or so to your sleep, Dr. Winter recommends doing it gradually. “I tell people to simply add in 15 minutes every night for a week or two,” he says. “Then start working on the next 15 minutes. Trying to go to bed hours earlier can sometimes backfire.”
Dr. Tasali says that many study participants in the sleep extension group were nervous that they wouldn’t be able to sleep more and get everything done that they needed to do during the day. “But they ended up saying that with better regulating their sleep, they were able to be more productive so they could do more things during the day without feeling tired,” she says. “People actually came and thanked me.”
The Tropical Secret for Healty Weight Loss Know more
Overall, Dr. Tasali says that getting a little more sleep “could be a game-changer in our obesity epidemic.”
0 Comments