If you thought sleeping and losing weight were each other’s nemesis, think again! Under the right circumstances, sleeping may help you lose weight more effectively than any fad diet! Of course, as implied earlier, certain rules apply, so let’s get going to the what and why… now.
Most of us tend to not connect a good snooze to losing weight. After all, it seems to make sense that the more active you are, the more fat you’ll burn. While this isn’t wrong per say, it’s not the only way our bodies know how to shed off those extra pounds.
Truth be told, we are always burning calories, even while sitting down and doing nothing, and yes, even while sleeping. The aim here however, is to try and burn more calories and lose more weight while we sleep. Hence, we need to have a few tricks up our sleeve to pull this off with success.
So, are you ready for some fat-burning slumber? Great. Here are some tips to help you out.
1. Give your metabolism a healthy boost. Your thyroid, the powerhouse of your metabolism, produces the hormones that controls how your body burns calories. For a better metabolism and the ability to burn off more calories while you sleep, you’ll need to boost your metabolism. You can do this by feeding your body the right kind of foods for this purpose, which are foods rich in selenium, zinc and iodine. Brazil nuts, seaweed and shellfish are good sources of these. Include some of them in your diet to help boost your metabolism and burn more calories while you sleep.
2. Drink a glass or two of water prior to bedtime. Hydrating your body throughout the day as well as before bedtime will help in your weight loss efforts. You can up this trick by chugging on cold water instead of warm or room temperature water. Your body will need to heat up the cold water to your ideal body temperature, and while doing so, it will be burning more calories.
3. Drink your coffee without milk and sugar. Kopi ‘o’ kosong, anyone? One cup each in the morning and evening may be enough to boost your metabolism and help you burn more fat and calories while you’re laying down, either at night or anytime during the day. It seems, the caffeine in coffee has a way of entering the nervous system and instructing our fat cells to break down.
4. Have a protein-rich meal. Your body uses more calories to digest protein, especially animal protein, than any other meal. So, a moderately protein-rich dinner may not be a bad idea to help you lose weight while you are in dreamland! We hope you choose good quality protein though, such as white meat or fish for this gentle boost in night-time metabolism.
5. Spice up your meals, especially your dinner! Reach for that red-hot chili pepper while whipping up a meal if you wish to lose weight fast, even while you sleep. The capsaicin in chilies will assist your body to burn more calories. Plus, eating a spicy meal will help curb your appetite for midnight munchies, so you’ll be burning calories, and also, not be adding them on!
6. Add vinegar to your daily diet. Those who take vinegar daily tend to burn more calories in a day compared to those who don’t. Season your dinner with vinegar, or have a glass of water with a spoon of apple cider or coconut vinegar mixed into it before bedtime. You’ll be burning more calories while you snooze, plus, you’ll also be curbing your appetite for a midnight snack, as vinegar is said to help suppress the part of the brain that controls hunger pangs.
7. Have a cold shower before you sleep. Just like drinking cold water, a cold shower will cause your body to use more calories to try and warm you up. The longer you stay in the cold shower, the more calories you burn. Similarly, the colder the water, the higher the number of calories you burn. If you’re not used to taking cold showers, especially at night, start with a comfortably cooler temperature and go colder each time. And you can also stay longer and longer each time too, to help kick-start your night-time metabolism.
8. Hit the gym in the evenings. Working out in the evenings is a great way to ensure that your body continues to burn off excess fat while you sleep. The more intense the workout, the more fat you burn long after the workout has ended! As a bonus, you’ll feel great and look sexily fit too.
9. Don’t forget about fibre! It’s no coincidence that the diet of people who are overweight always seem to lack fibre. Foods such as nuts, berries, apples, green vegetables and whole grain helps to boost your metabolism and they also keep you feeling satiated for longer. When fibre enters the digestive tract, it prevents the absorption of excess fat. If your dinner has adequate amounts of fibre, you will have a better chance of losing some weight while you sleep.
10. Sleep in an air-conditioned room. The colder, the better, as you probably would have guessed by now! When the temperature around you is cold, your body will attempt to warm you up and to do that, calories will have to burn. So, the colder your room is, the more calories you’ll burn. The point here is to feel the cold, though, so too many blankets or warm clothes will beat the purpose and merely leave you with a higher electricity bill.
11. Sex before sleep! Sex is akin to working out in bed. It raises your metabolism and keeps your body at calorie-burning mode long after you’re done. You’ll sleep better too. So far, there isn’t any downside to this, is there?
12. No electronics in bed. Why? Because studies have shown that exposure to blue light at night increases hunger pangs and insulin resistance, which in turn, leads to unwanted weight gain. The lack of sleep due to this screen time in bed also compromises the body’s fat-burning power.
