Many of us are obsessed with the calories that we burn during the day, but no one realizes that a good night’s sleep can help you burn more calories. You need not do any strenuous work for this. Overweight and obesity are mainly associated with a lack of sleep in terms of quality and quantity. The sleep cycle has different phases. During the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase of your sleep, your brain is highly active and most of the glucose is utilized as a fuel source to burn calories. Your heart rate and blood pressure go up during this phase that burns more calories as well. Therefore the better and longer you sleep, the more calories you burn.
Sleep deprivation and oversleeping will have an adverse effect. As the former will increase your craving for fatty foods the next day, and the latter will slow down the metabolism during the day.
How many Calories are burnt during Sleep?
The amount of calories you burn during sleep depends on your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is the amount of energy your body needs to perform certain basic functions like breathing, blood circulation, and other organs functioning in the resting condition. Your BMR is determined by your body weight. The more you weigh, the more your BMR. Also, there are other activities that your body performs while you are sleeping. Cellular repair and muscle repair are some of them. On average a healthy person burns 38 – 42 calories per pound of body weight per hour. In this article, let us find some ways to burn more calories while we sleep:
What are the ways to burn more calories while sleeping?
Have an early and light dinner: When you eat heavy and late dinner, your body takes a longer time to digest and absorb the nutrients. Thus your body will be busy metabolizing the food that you have consumed closer to your bedtime rather than putting you to good sleep. During deep sleep, the brain releases growth hormones. If we eat very late at night, these hormones will encourage the body to store the food as fat rather than the fuel. Therefore you tend to be overweight. It is better to cut down on your portion size for dinner. Have a starter broth or salad followed by veggie side dish or grilled chicken. Try to avoid carbs and desserts at night. Usually, we tend to enjoy the largest meal for dinner with the entire family and the smallest meal for breakfast. Exactly the opposite of this we shall practice to stay healthy and get sound sleep.
Do regular exercise: Maintaining a regular exercise routine can burn calories during the day and night. When you exercise regularly during the day, the muscles will try to recover and repair the damages that are caused by exercise in the night. This helps burn more calories. This shall be practiced at least one hour before bedtime as exercise makes people more active and energetic. Also, exercise increases your body temperature making it hard to fall asleep. The earlier you exercise the better.
Do not consume alcohol three hours before bedtime: Alcohol provides loads of calories. So controlling the intake of alcohol just before bedtime will help to get good sleep. It can depress your nervous system and make you fall asleep initially, but the quality of sleep you get without consuming alcohol will be much better compared to sleep after consuming alcohol. Also, our body takes a longer time to metabolize alcohol. This will keep your body up from sleep. Similarly, any caffeinated drinks will stimulate your brain and help you stay awake at least for the next eight hours. Therefore such consumption needs to be avoided later in the afternoon and before bedtime to get a good night's sleep. It is only during the rapid eye movement phase of the sleep our body can burn more calories. Hence try not to interrupt the sleep schedule by consuming alcohol or any other.
Create an appealing ambiance in the bedroom: You can burn more calories only when you are fast asleep. That means, only during the REM phase of the sleep, your body will make your brain active and burn more calories. To get this sound sleep, your bedroom ambiance plays a vital role. If your house is in the main streets of the city, you might be troubled by the streetlights being ON throughout the night. So use some blind screens that can block the lights from entering your bedroom. Similarly, turn all your electronic gadgets off. The lights emitted from these gadgets will stimulate your brain. Make your bedroom more welcoming by using a comfortable mattress and pillow in addition to attractive bed sheets, pillowcases, and throws. Taking a warm water bath and aromatherapy with scented candles can relieve your stress during the day. You will surely enjoy the cuddling of your pillow and fall asleep faster. Regular practice of meditation and yoga can help you get a good night's sleep. Use your bedroom only for sleep.
Sleep cozy: Sleeping in a colder environment helps to burn more calories. This will help to manage metabolic disorders. If you sleep with your partner, cuddling can contribute to closeness and happiness in your relationship. This is because, skin-to-skin contact triggers the release of oxytocin, the so-called ‘love hormone' that helps in the interpersonal emotional bonding between the partners. This helps to manage stress and reduce anxiety and lower blood pressure. Sleeping in a cool bedroom triggers the brown fat reserves to be active to burn calories. The increased amount of brown fat in the body helps to lose weight and controls blood glucose levels and insulin function.
Regulating body temperature to a minimum is one of the best ways to improve sleep. However, body temperature reduces naturally throughout the night which is an important part of the body’s adaptation to sleep. Sleeping naked makes this process easier. Try to stay cool while in bed and sleep that will ease the process of falling asleep faster and get more sound sleep thereby burn more calories.
