Dropping a few pounds, especially while you sleep, doesn’t need to be challenging. Many plans, diets, or training programs out there may give you quick fat blasting, but often times you are basically starving your body and can lead to sadness. Most training plans similar to this are not sustainable. When you are trying to lose weight while you sleep, a better plan is that you find something that you can do consistently every single day, and that you aren’t completely starving yourself. This way you’ll have the motivation to stick to your plan and once you drop the excess fat you will keep it off.
Below we’ve prepared a couple tips and tricks on how to destroy weight while you sleep.
Sleep Environment – Pleasant and Quiet
A direct correlation to good sleep comes from your sleep environment. Sleeping in a poor sleep environment will leave you feeling sleepy the following day despite getting an adequate amount of sleep. Your sleep environment plays a bigger role than the exact amount of sleep you got that night. Here are a few tips to improve your sleep environment:
- Make sure your room is dark at night. During the day make sure it gets adequate light so you have a good sleep-wake cycle.
- Turn off the TV or other distracting noises well before bedtime.
- Consider a new mattress or pillow.
- Keep the room slightly cool.
- Surround yourself with pleasant scents
Having a comfortable sleep environment is key to good sleep. It will in turn boost mood and metabolism helping you feel better and lose weight.
Pre-Sleep Routine – A Necessity
A regular nighttime routine will help your body switch into sleep mode. Although there are numerous activities you can do during your routine, the most important thing is that you are consistent with your routine. After a couple weeks of using the same routine, your body will fall asleep faster and you will have much improved sleep. If you shower at night that can be the start to your routine. Follow it up by several relaxing activities such as reading and stretching. Whatever you choose to be a part of your routine, make sure it is relaxing.
Disruptions – Food and Drinks
Avoid anything you think would disrupt a good night’s sleep. In the evening try to have your dinner as early as possible. It’s a general rule that you shouldn’t eat an hour before you sleep, but if you can help it have your dinner earlier. Make sure the meal is healthy as well. Even if you aren’t prone to indigestion or heartburn your sleep quality will still be affected.
What you drink at night also affects sleep. Believe it or not, that night cap might be doing you some harm. Studies show that while a glass of wine is healthy at night, drinking at night disrupts sleep quality. Your brain is active while you sleep, so its nightly duties are slightly impaired when you are, well, impaired.
Caffeine is also obviously a no-no at night. It is much better to be able to fall asleep and let your body repair itself rather than stressing and staying up. Sugary drinks are also a no-no as it can cause stomach issues.
When deciding what to eat and drink at night, always opt for something healthy. Drink plenty of water in the evening, have a good dinner, have a healthy snack if you’re hungry, and go to sleep. Examples of healthy snacks are almonds and cherries. These two snacks serve a double purpose as they increase melatonin levels at night helping you sleep. Add a small serving to your nightly routine and see the benefits for yourself.
Consistency – Set a Time to Sleep
Most people wake up at exactly the same time every day, but not at night. Going to sleep at the same time every night will only further tell your body it is time to sleep. A consistent sleeping time will have you feeling sleepy every night. Pretty soon at that time your body will be practically forcing you to sleep.
Naps – Avoid Them, Sometimes
Who doesn’t like to take naps? It’s the middle of the day, warm, and there’s nothing to do. Perfect time for a nap. There’s nothing wrong with this unless you have trouble sleeping at night. Taking naps during the day doesn’t make up for the sleep we didn’t get the night before. In fact, it harms the next night of sleep. We need to feel sleepy at night so if we fragment our sleep we won’t sleep as well or deep the next night. If you are feeling absolutely dreadful, a 15-30 minute nap can help improve energy and mood. Sleeping longer than 30 minutes is bad because our body starts going into REM which should be reserved for our nights. It means our body is in deep sleep and waking up from REM after a nap will leave you much more tired than before the nap.
Exercise – Weights and Cardio
While exercising is the most effective way to weight loss it will help you progress faster. It’s not just about losing weight, exercising can help you sleep better, give you more energy, and decrease stress. The golden rule to losing weight is to expend more calories than you’re taking in – eating healthier helps with this, and working out can accelerate the process and help jumpstart your metabolism.
One thing to keep in mind when you are working to lose weight while you sleep that you don’t overdo it on the exercise especially the first weeks. Really it’s you should find a few activities that you can do consistently each month and not hurt your body and get turned off with one hard exercise session.
If you’re working towards losing weight while you sleep, plan to exercise 3 – 5 times each week. Even just 12 – 25 minutes can be extremely beneficial for your weight loss and overall health. A blend of cardio and weights can make a big difference. Cardio doesn’t mean running miles and miles on a treadmill – find what works for you. Other forms of cardio include:
- Brisk walk around the neighborhood
- Cycling / biking
- Swimming
- Stairs
- Elliptical
- Hiking
Lifting weights doesn’t necessarily mean weighted squats and bench pressing. If you’re just starting out, get a few light hand held weights and hold them while you do lunges and dips. You can use the same dumbbells to do deadlifts and many other exercises. Overall it’s more important that you do some form of exercise. Your overall sleep quality will improve drastically with some sort of consistent exercise.
Conclusion
Sleep hygiene refers to the practices and habits that are necessary for a good night’s sleep. This also means being more awake and productive the next day. There are many ways to improve sleep hygiene, but the main ways are: exercising consistently, establishing a pre-sleep routine, having a comfortable environment, avoiding unhealthy food and drink late at night, and sleeping at a consistent time. Ultimately these tips will have you feeling refreshed, energized, and focused. Because of this, you will lose weight from decreased stress. Your body will also be able to build more muscle faster! These tips are easy and can be implemented tonight. Try them out and see how much your sleep improves, along with your weight! Happy health!
