How Getting More Sleep Can Help You Lose Weight

The start of the New Year means that plenty of us will be taking on new years’ resolutions. After all of the over indulging over the Christmas period, January can be a great time to decide to shed a bit of weight. This can be difficult at the best of times, however according to new research it can be much more difficult if you don’t get the recommended amount of sleep.

The Evidence

The study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that sleeping less than 7 hours per night boosts your chances of “distract eating” and therefore increases your daily intake of calories. The average recommended sleep for an adult is 8 hours per night. Those of us who are sleeping less than 7 hours per night eat on average for nine minutes more per day.

When we are deprived of sleep our body increases the amount of the stress hormone cortisol it produces, which results in an increase of our appetite. This wouldn’t be a massive problem if it meant you had a huge appetite for salads, but more often than not when we are sleep deprived we reach for the simpler, satisfying junk foods.

There is a reason for this and it lies again in the increase of cortisol in our brains when we are sleep deprived. In a reaction the increase in stress, our body’s tries to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter which can help calm us down. The problem with this is that one of the best ways to get a release of it is to eat foods which are high in carbohydrates and fats. This concoction of stress and stress release more often than not sees us reaching for the takeaway menu rather than the fruit bowl.

The National Sleep Foundation research backs up already existing studies which link a lack of sleep to weight gain. Last year research appearing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that sleep deprived participants ate on average 300 calories more per day than those who got the recommended amount of hours.

Improving Your Sleep

Clearly looking after your sleep should be seriously considered if you are concerned about your weight following this new evidence. On top of exercising more regularly and improving your diet to something away from mince pies, booze and turkey sandwiches, here are a number of tips to help you get a better night’s sleep.

Reduce the strain on your eyes – Watching television or using our smart phones and tablets in bed can keep us more awake due to the brightness of the screens, making our brain mistake it for daylight, therefore keeping our mind alert and awake. Switching to an audiobook or music can keep you entertained but means you can enjoy it with your lights off and your eyes shut. More information available here on our blog.

Exercise in the evening – The chances are you are planning to increase your exercise regime if you are looking to lose weight, so try saving your exercise till the evening. Not only does the exercise obviously tire you out, it naturally raises and then brings down both your heart rate and body temperature, making it easier to get off to sleep. More information available here on our blog.

Having the right bedding – If you constantly complain about your pillows, duvet, mattress or bedding but haven’t got around to actually doing anything about it then perhaps now is the right time. There are so many options available from different materials to fillings so there is almost certainly another option to improve your comfort available. 

For additional advice on getting a better nights sleep for the remainder of the dark and miserable winter months, check out this post from our blog.

It is always very difficult to keep to diets and exercise regimes, especially in the first couple of cold months of the year, however getting your 8 hours will almost certainly better prepare you to achieve your weight loss goals.