Sleeping for ONE extra hour each day could help you lose 4kg a year, study finds

What would you do if we told you, you could lose weight by sleeping more?

A new study has found that getting an extra hour of sleep each night can help overweight people lose an extra four kilograms a year!

In fact, scientists at the University of Chicago found that people who sleep an extra hour eat 270 fewer calories per day.

A study has found that sleeping an extra hour a day can help you lose weight

The researchers tracked sleep duration and calories in 80 overweight people, ages 21 to 40, who slept less than six and a half hours a night. Their sleep patterns as well as their calorie intake were monitored.

Then, after two weeks of the study, half of the group received a sleep counseling session to help them get 8.5 hours of sleep while the other group was given no counseling. Both groups were tracked for another two weeks.

They found that participants who were able to get more kip consumed fewer calories each day, on average.

How reducing screen time before bed can help

Now, study experts are calling for sleep advice to be added to weight loss programs and overweight people should be encouraged to limit screen time before bed, in order to get more sleep.

Lead author Dr. Esraa Tasali says: “If healthy sleep habits are maintained for a longer period, this will result in clinically significant weight loss over time.

“A lot of people are working hard to find ways to reduce their calorie intake to lose weight – well, once you sleep more, you may be able to reduce it significantly.”

Previous studies have found links between sleep and appetite

Previous studies have found links between sleep and how it can affect your appetite, but this is the first time that sleep alone has been studied and affects weight loss.

Dr. Tasali added: “Most of the other studies on this topic in laboratories are short-lived, for a few days, and food intake is measured by how much participants consume from a displayed diet.

“In our study, we only dealt with sleep, and had the participants eat whatever they wanted, without logging food or anything else to track their nutrition themselves.

“We’ve seen that after just one sleep counseling session, participants can change their bedtime habits enough to increase sleep duration.

“We have shown that in real life, without making any other lifestyle changes, you can extend your sleep and eat fewer calories. This can really help people who are trying to lose weight.”

There’s nothing worse than having to wake up the next day after a night full of tossing and turning, unable to catch those zips.

It is recommended that we adults (ages 24 to 64) sleep seven to nine hours a night.

The thing is, only 1 in 3 Australian adults feel as if they are either struggling to fall asleep or staying asleep. Night sleep side effects. What we may not realize is that not being able to sleep can actually add to the size of our waistlines.

4 ways sleep deprivation can lead to weight gain

1. Raises cortisol levels

When we are sleep deprivation Our levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) increase. The higher our cortisol levels, the greater our appetite. On top of that (yes, it gets worse), when we start feeling stressed (thanks to our increased cortisol levels), our body starts looking for ways to produce serotonin, a brain chemical that helps boost mood and relaxation.

And you won’t believe what the easiest way is for our bodies to produce serotonin. By eating foods high in fat and carbohydrates! Yikes!

2. Store sweet things

So, this is now We are tired, weary And the craving for naughty food (due to lack of sleep), our bodies’ ability to process this type of food is greatly hampered.

3. Hunger hormone

A sleepless night causes the body to release the hormone ghrelin. This hormone is responsible for the manifestation of hunger. A sleepless night also causes our bodies to produce less of the hormone leptin, which is responsible for telling our stomachs when they are full.

So, thanks to the lack of sleep we now have more hungry hormones and fewer hormones than I’m full now. This is certainly a recipe for disaster – in the literal sense of the word.

4. Missing it all REM

REM stands for rapid eye movement. REM occurs when we are in the deepest stages of our sleep. Do you know when you have those very strange and vivid dreams? This is our friend REM. We actually burn the most calories when we are in this stage of sleep.

The truth is that REM sleep increases the longer you sleep, so less sleep means less time in REM sleep. Less time in REM equals fewer calories burned.

So there you have it. Four ways (and believe us, there are a lot) why a lack of sleep inevitably makes us gain weight.

Here are our tips on how to get a better night’s sleep to help you shift weight:

• Don’t go to sleep full. We recommend having dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime.
• No cell phones in the bedroom. Start.
• Avoid caffeine 3-4 hours before bed (well, trying).
• Never do vigorous exercise one hour before bed.
• Establish regular patterns and try to establish a healthy sleep pattern.

Find tips for Helps overcome sleep deprivation here.