Top tips for losing weight in your sleep!

Let go of the urge to watch one more episode of that series you’ve been binge-watching for over a week and catch up on an hour or two of precious sleep!

It may come as a surprise to some, but a majority might have already had a good guess as to what this is truly about just from reading the title. If you are one of the many victims of today’s gastronomic phenomena (Lotus Cheesecakes, Double Patty Cheeseburgers, Dynamite Shrimp… need I say more?) and have been hit with the sad reality that it’s time to cut off some of that good stuff to lose some pounds, you might as well start by focusing on the quantity and quality of sleep you get. The correlation between weight and sleep has already been thoroughly explored by doctors and researchers worldwide. The relationship between the two is proven and strong.

Positive or Negative?

Poor sleep has been repeatedly linked to having a higher Body Mass Index (BMI,) as weight gain becomes more prominent with a lack of sleep, showing a negative relationship between the two variables. To go a bit deeper into the scientific reasoning behind it all, weight gain that occurs due to lack of proper sleep is mainly due to your metabolism; your resting metabolic rate (RMR) to be more precise. RMR is the number of calories which are burnt by the body when you are completely at rest. The more sleep deprived you are, the lower your RMR is. This, in turn, leads to the unwanted extra pounds you only realize you’ve gained when trying out a new pair of jeans at the mall.

There is other scientific and non-scientific reasoning behind weight gain from inadequate sleep on top of a slowing metabolism which can further add on to the issue of increased weight.
Another one, in particular, would be an increase in appetite due to improper sleep. Hormones which send hunger signals to the brain are more present in a stomach with inadequate sleep which increases your appetite and causes you to overeat. As we also know, lack of sleep has a great effect on cognitive and control abilities that can affect our productivity in our day to day activities. With the decrease in decision-making abilities and less self-control, you are more likely to give in to a heavenly fast food meal with large fries rather than opting for something more guilt-free. The fewer hours of sleep you get during your day, the more hours you have available to munch on some late-night snacks or eat an extra pack of crisps (makes sense, right?). For the gym-goers, be wary when pulling an all-nighter to wrap up an essay you have due or to stay out partying all night. Lack of peaceful sleep can cause muscle loss, lower your drive to exercise, and even affect the intensity and quality of your workouts. Shutting your eyes more is proven to actually improve performance.

So how do we ditch the flab and get summer abs?

Well, in this case, the answer is very obvious: get more deep sleep! However, nowadays with all our hectic daily schedules, we know that it is way easier said than actually done. To catch up on an hour or two of sleep each night, which will do wonders to your body, there are some surprisingly simple ways to improve the amount and quality of your sleep. Here are some ways which you may not have tried before, all with a guarantee from our staff!

1. Get moving!

To get fit you need to get moving (duh!) but, this is not another paragraph stating the obvious fact that to shed those pounds you need to get off the couch. Instead, it looks at exercise in a different way. When you exercise, your body’s energy is being depleted heavily and that is what gives you a feeling of exhaustion. Exercise is deemed to help improve your sleep if you suffer from restless nights by reducing stress levels and excreting happy hormones into the body such as Endorphins, Dopamine, and Serotonin which overall improve your mood and quality of sleep. When using up a massive amount of energy during the day due to exercise, your body will crave sleep more to refuel. This creates a positive feedback loop where better exercise leads to better sleep and better sleep leads to better exercise, hitting your extra pounds twice for double the weight loss. The next time you feel restless and can’t close your eyes, consider going for a jog around the block!

2. Watch what you munch and sip on!

Not only does lack of sleep contribute to weight gain, but what and how much you eat right before bed may be another factor influencing your weight. Don’t overdo your dinners with a high-fat meal. Instead, opt for a low carb dinner. The more you overeat the more your stomach has to digest which won’t allow you to get a peaceful night’s sleep. When it comes to your choice of drink, avoid caffeine after 1 pm and try to resist that alcoholic drink you have every evening as it might disrupt sleep patterns and may also increase chances of snoring.

3. Optimize your sleep environment.

Did you ever imagine a mattress that keeps you fit? Yes, it’s very much possible! Improving the surface you sleep on ultimately improves your sleep and your chances of staying fit. It’s those simple fixes that may not seem like a massive change, but they result in so much. Regular mattresses you find in your local department store are economically priced, but the price you pay in terms of loss of precious deep sleep costs more. If you are a person who loses sleep due to night sweats, uncomfortable sleeping positions or back pains, you might want to look at an upgrade for a peaceful night’s sleep.
The WHISPER mattress, for example, is a great pick. With its open cell adaptive foam, which makes the mattress well ventilated enough to stop your bothersome night sweats from stealing your precious time sleeping, making it the ideal mattress. In addition, its thermoregulating fabric further allows you to stay cool at night by driving away any excess heat to stop the mattress from getting too hot.
When it comes to having a good and comfy night’s sleep, the WHISPER mattress DNA cores were specifically designed to ensure maximum comfort to support your spine alignment and to allow you to wake up with less pains and aches from your blissful sleep. Not to forget, the Quantum Foam the mattress is made out of, inhibits motion transfer just in case your partner is a fidgety one.
So, in a way you can see just how important it is in choosing the correct mattress in order to preserve your precious sleep and lead a healthy lifestyle in return. It starts off with something as simple as the surface you sleep on!

4. Ditch all electronics!

You know that blue light that comes out of every electronic device you have in your room? Switch them off completely! Research has shown that these blue lights actually fool the brain into staying awake. With that being said, all these electronic devices also emit electromagnetic waves (EMF) that interfere with your brain waves to inhibit sleep.
Another solution… just get a WHISPER mattress, which has a special technology known as the Silver Shield which blocks all electromagnetic waves (EMF). The Silver Shield acts like an invisible bubble around your bed to prevent any EMF waves from entering your bed and interfering with your brain. This ensure you get your much-needed restful deep sleep while giving you the energy you need to keep up your fitness level!

5. Consistency!

To further enhance your sleep and sleep patterns, maintain a consistent sleep schedule. It might be tough at first but try to get up and go to bed at roughly the same time each day. This will help set your body clock which makes it easier for the sleep hormones to be produced at the right times. Keep your room dark, quiet and cool to help you relax and prepare for a blissful sleep.

The idea is to improve your quality and quantity of sleep in order to prevent your body’s metabolism from being hindered. There are so many other ways in which you can try to promote sleep, and some might work better than others for you and your lifestyle. However, give the above points a try to improve your sleep and to stay fit to get those summer abs in no time!