If you have been trying to eat healthily but you are still struggling to lose weight, I have good news for you. A new study shows that you can actually lose that extra weight when you’re sleeping. How easy does that sound? Well, it’s true.
What most of us don’t know is that the process of burning fat happens at night and not during the day. Fat is burnt when your body is relaxed or resting.
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| Your body loses fat during the delta wave sleeping stage (deep sleep) because this is the time the body is producing more of the growth hormones. Source: Getty Images/Adene Sanchez |
Growth hormone, which is known to be the main burning fat hormone, triggers your body to lose fat during sleep.
When we sleep, our bodies take time to; repair muscles, grow bones, and manage hormones and short memories.
Your body loses fat during the delta wave sleeping stage (deep sleep) because this is the time the body is producing more of the growth hormones.
Here are a few things that you can do to get more of the delta wave sleep in order to burn more fat at night
1. Sleep In a slightly cooler room
Renowned chiropractor, Dr Eric Berg, recommends sleeping in a cool environment to get quality sleep.
“When you’re going to bed ensure that your room is not too hot. If you’re slightly cooler you’ll get more into a deeper restful sleep,” he explains.
2. Darkroom
When going to sleep make sure your room is very dark and there’s no light coming in.
According to sleep experts, darkness helps to stimulate the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps you fall asleep quickly. It also helps to keep you asleep until you complete all sleeping cycles. Additionally, darkness also promotes relaxation which helps you fall asleep quickly.
3. Don’t expose your eyes to blue light before bed
Exposure to blue light in the hours before bed interferes with the body’s natural fat metabolism, a new study from Japan has found, and LED bulbs emit blue light that may be robbing your body of its natural ability to burn fat as you sleep.
“Darkness stimulates melatonin and melatonin triggers the growth hormone. This is why you should not be on your cellphone or computer during your bedtime because you will be exposing your eyes to blue light,” says Berg.
2. Exercise
Berg says doing vigorous exercise will help you burn more fat because it’s going to increase your growth hormone.
When you exercise, you do not burn fat right away. You burn the fat in the recovery phase when you’re sleeping. So if you want to burn fat you should do more intense and vigorous exercise.
3. Fasting
“If your intermittent fasting as well as periodic prolonged fasting you can manifest some serious fat burn when you’re sleeping. When you fast you increase the growth hormone by a factor of 2000 per cent and when you’re working out by 700 per cent. Fasting is therefore more powerful,” said Berg.
4. Adjust your Macros
Dr Berg also recommends not counting vegetable carbohydrates but eating large salads and keeping your other carbs below 20g per day. He says it is also important to consume a moderate amount of fat and to only consume fat that’s on meat—don’t add additional fats. When it comes to proteins he recommends consuming 3-6 oz. of protein per meal.
5. Keep your Cortisol Low
When your stress and cortisol go up, your weight loss goes down. Stress alone is equivalent to eating sugar. You have to avoid stress by all means.
Stress causes the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol: cortisol is a stress hormone that promotes body fat and makes it harder to lose weight, especially around the middle.
Try doing some physical work outside your house or taking a long walk because this will help you a lot.
