Weight loss beyond diet and exercise
Popular belief has been that to lose weight you just need to workout and reduce calorie intake. While this is true, it is not absolute. Beyond diet and exercise, you can lose weight while you sleep.
So, in case you are thinking that ‘hmm…I worked out well today and now, I am going to stay up late and complete my pending work’, then you are in for a surprise. We get to learn how to lose weight with a good night’s sleep.
In order to lose weight, a sustained balance of the key metabolic factors is important. What balance, you may think…it is a balance of elements which contribute to your metabolism, beyond a good diet and exercise such as a good night’s sleep.
Experts revealed that if we have a few late nights or if we miss our snoozes few times in a year, it is okay to accept it. But the problem becomes cumulative if it becomes a trend.
Less sleep, more weight (in other words ‘Lose weight while you sleep‘)
It is vital to note here that the human body is constantly working, even while we sleep. And a lack of sleep causes an imbalance to the body’s metabolism and activity within.
So, when we don’t give enough time for the body to rest, recoup and do its maintenance work- we pave a way to sluggish metabolism, leading to an imbalance in the equilibrium of our hormones.
Where there is a recurring pattern of sleeplessness or insomnia, weight gain is inevitable. Fats that need to be consumed as fuel end up being stored, without being attended to. An eventuality of this recurring trend can lead to long term health complications, if the root cause is not taken care of.
Hormones (get fickle without sleep)
The rationale is simple- by getting good sleep, your body functions optimally doing what it is expected to do. And if the body has no rest, then the body struggles to maintain balance. Hormones are interlinked and impact the efficiency of our body functioning.
When sleep is in deficit mode, your body’s need for energy increases during the day, which further leads to increased hunger (ghrelin hormone acting up). And in the same way, with less sleep, your body will lag in its ability to assess if your stomach is full or not. In other words, your body will not be able to tell you to stop eating (leptin hormone acting less) and it will gauge a crisis. Hence, eating more than required is supported by your body.
With increased hunger (more ghrelin), and no police (less leptin) to monitor your food intake (junk food especially), the scope to gain weight becomes higher.
-Good sleep is vital to lose weight
Mood swings and comfort food
Often lack of sleep outcomes are familiar to us in terms of “mood swings”, needing comfort food to feel better, or just mindlessly, munching on a bag of chips trying to keep the restless mind busy, or simply getting your 26th cup of coffee (familiar with this?) to feel pepped up. In a way, the body tries to compensate for the lack of rest and sleep, with food. And this food due to sluggish digestion/metabolism could be getting converted into fats.
Lack of sleep causes hallucinations, slows down our decision-making abilities, speeds up aging and sometimes can even lead to depression, as per research.
Bloating and Water Retention
Lack of sleep leads to the production of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol impacts digestion and leads to bloating. The stress hormone also leads to water retention. The body stays in a stressful state as a reaction to insomnia or lack of sleep for recurring durations. And this aggravates the mild symptoms of water retention and bloating.
Have you noticed that bloating feeling, after a late night when your snoozes were less? The bottom line is sleep is crucial to keep away those extra pounds from adding up. With good sleep, you prop your metabolism to burn fat.
We need to fix a good sleep, end of the day, to encourage weight loss, when the metabolism is at its optimal level.
Quick fact 01
In today’s world, we have evidence based natural supplements which help resolve sleep issues and to lose weight while you sleep.
Quick fact 02
7 Tips to get Better Sleep (Lose weight while sleeping)
- Have an early dinner
- Avoid gadgets before bedtime
- Do not exercise close to bedtime
- Keep away from alcohol and caffeine before bedtime
- Try this breathing technique
- Natural supplements to promote sleep and weight loss
- Keep a special pillow or soft blanket kept aside only for sleep time.
- Have an early dinner. Give yourself a 2–3 hours gap between dinner and bedtime. So that your body has sufficient time to digest food and then, consume that fuel to work on other metabolic activities.
2. Avoid seeing gadgets a minimum 45min before bedtime. The longer you see gadgets like your phone or tab just before bedtime, the more difficulty you have in trying to fall asleep.
3. Do not exercise close to bedtime: Exercising close to bedtime, will keep you energized and pumped up. And this will not favor in slowly you down for a good night’s rest. Keep a good 3 hour gap between any exercise and bedtime.
4. Keep away from alcohol and caffeine just before bedtime as it interferes with your biological elements and hormones which work in inducing sleepiness.
5. Try this breathing technique to enable your body to relax gradually and fall asleep. Calming your body is important for a few minutes and then, focus on breathing in on a count of 3 (1,2,3..) and breathing out on a count of 3. This relaxes your body and promotes sleep. Try keeping all your attention on breathing and keeping your mind blank.
6. Natural supplements promoting good sleep and weight loss are a proven solution for many people. These supplements not only promote good sleep but also support weight loss. It is a win-win package. These supplements give you the required nutrients that your body needs and at the same time, help in losing weight while you sleep, in a healthy manner.
If you have any other health concerns, apart from sleep issues, please consult a doctor, before you begin to take any supplements.
7. Keep a special pillow or soft blanket aside only for sleep time: As simple as it may sound, yes, keep a special pillow or a soft blanket specifically aside when it is time to sleep. This will prepare you mentally, as you wind up for the day to get ready for a good sleep. As you make your bed, get ready to hit the sack and get hold of this pillow or soft blanket as a reward at the end of the day; the pillow or blanket’s exclusive role would be to get you into the right frame of mind and allowing yourself permission to sink in, to rest and to sleep. It’s a psychological thing.
Prolonged sleeplessness leads to weight gain.
Restoring good sleep enhances weight loss, during sleep.
With sleep restored, your body can get to work those pounds off. Typically the internal metabolism rate, your breathing patterns, sweat, and body temperature aid in losing weight while you sleep. However, the following aspects expedite losing weight while you sleep, if you are looking for weight loss faster.
Natural supplements: Proven supplements made out of natural herbs in measured proportions contribute to inducing deep sleep. They trigger high-fat burning and increase metabolism rates. These are widely used and safe solutions for sleeplessness and to lose weight.
Burn fat post-workout: During the day, a simple workout can burn calories. The beauty of cardio, yoga and strength training is that your body tends to burn fat even after the workout is done.
Fat burning foods : Make it a point to have at least 2–3 of these fat burning foods which boost your fat burning capability. They range from lemons, onions, berries, avocado and the like.
Maintaining metabolism at its optimum level is crucial for the body’s functioning. Diet and workout are important in a weight loss journey. But without getting that sufficient deep sleep, the metabolic rate and fat burning capabilities will not be enhanced. We need to let our snoozes be longer, to lose weight while you sleep.
Disclosure:
The above article is as per value based research. Since everyone’s weight loss journey is unique, please factor in that discretion. Do consult a doctor prior to implementing any recommendations (mentioned here), especially in case of a long term illnesses. This article contains affiliate links which means that if you find value in this article, click on the link (s) and you make a purchase through the links, it will help me earn a commission.