Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some kind of pill or food that you could eat to make you lose weight while you sleep? The truth is that losing extra weight takes more effort than that, but sleep can plan an important role in your health and your weight loss success.
There are plenty of studies that show that getting enough sleep is one of the keys to good health and to fighting fat. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best ways to boost your sleep hygiene and help your weight loss journey.
- Eat less, sleep more. That may seem obvious, but a study done by The Salk Institute showed that by paying attention to this formula you can help yourself lose weight. Scientists asked people to limit the hours of the day when they ate to 11 instead of their normal 14, and to sleep a bit more instead. After four months the group had lost an average of 3.5 percent of their extra body weight.
- Eat more Tryptophan-rich foods. Tryptophan is an amino acid that helps us sleep. It’s found in turkey, lentils, and other good-for-you foods. Boost your tryptophan intake for a better night of sleep.
- Drink herbal tea. There are plenty of herbal teas that help you fall asleep. Look into chamomile, lavender and valerian teas. Also, the mere act of having a cup of tea before bed each night can become a cue to your body that it’s time to go to sleep.
- Keep your nighttime meals small. There are a lot of good reasons for eating smaller meals at night time. One is that it will help you fall asleep faster. That’s because the more you eat, the harder your body has to work to digest all that food. The internal activity will keep you up.
- Close your kitchen. If you set a rule that your kitchen is closed and no food will be eaten between certain hours, you will probably lose weight.
- Have a protein shake before bed. Eating before bed may sound like a bad idea, but studies show that having a high-quality protein snack before bed can boost your resting metabolic rate.
- Turn down the heat. The cooler your bedroom is, the more your body burns belly fat. One study showed that people who slept in bedrooms set to 66 degrees doubled their brown fat, and that’s a good thing. Brown fat helps you burn bad fat.
- Keep your room dark and turn off your tablet. Both will interrupt your body’s ability to get a good night’s sleep. The darker and quieter your room, the lower your risk of obesity.