Change Your Sleep Schedule To Lose Weight

Weight Lost Sleeping
The precise amount of weight lost during slumber varies from person to person, but a study presented at an Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting in 2009 quantified weight loss among a small sample of healthy young men. Researchers found that the average participant shed 1/4 pound per hour while asleep, which was more than triple the amount lost while lying awake in bed. This difference may be partially attributed to hormonal changes as well as the fact that the brain is highly active during REM sleep, causing you to burn more

                           how does sleep help you lose weight??
It Helps You Burn More Calories
Not only do you have more energy to take on the day after a good night’s sleep, but your body also torches calories, even when you’re not working out. A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that normal sleepers' resting energy expenditure—the amount of calories burned when you’re not moving—was five percent higher than their tired counterparts. They also burned 20 percent more calories after a meal versus sleep-deprived people.

It Boosts Fat Loss
Even if you eat the exact same diet as your friend, if you’re not getting the sleep your body needs, you won’t drop as much fat as them. A recent study from the University of Chicago compared the weight-loss results from sleeping eight and a half hours per night versus only five and a half hours per night. In both conditions, people ate the same number of calories (about 1,450 calories per day). While both groups lost about six and a half pounds, more than half of that weight was fat for well-rested people, compared to only a quarter for tired participants.

It Encourages Portion Control
In a Swedish study, well-rested and sleep-deprived participants were asked to complete a computerized "ideal portion size" task where they could manipulate their serving size on a screen. Their findings: Sleep-starved people added 35 additional calories in snacks to their digital “plate” compared to well-rested participants.

Less sleep = Less energy
Hormones that regulate growth and appetite are part of the equation, according to Jakicic, but equally culpable is sleep sabotage. He believes that the more you're awake, the greater the chance you'll have an extra snack or two (or three or four).
A 2013 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports that theory. It found that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to be hungry because the body needs more energy to stay awake. Unfortunately, sleepy eaters tend to consume more than enough to compensate, which leads to weight gain.
"People who are well rested don't slog through the day," says Jakicic. If your body is worn, you're not going to be bounding up the stairs to your office, and you might be less motivated to make it to the gym. Less physical activity means fewer calories burned which, over time, can lead to weight gain.

Water Loss
Most of the weight lost during sleep likely comes from fluid loss. You emit water vapor with each breath you take, and sweating further contributes to dehydration. Plus, if you get up to use the restroom during sleep you'll lose even more water. Duke University Health System estimates that the average adult loses 2.5 liters of water per 24-hour period through respiration, sweat, urine and bowel movements. Each liter contains approximately 4 cups and weighs about 2 pounds.

How Much Sleep is Just Right?
For most people the struggle is how to get enough sleep, rather than trying to avoid sleeping too much. But if you could sleep as much as you wanted, what would be the ideal amount?
Generally, it’s recommended that you get at least eight hours of sleep a night. But this is based on the notion that our ancestors slept around nine hours each night, and therefore we should too. But according to Professor Jim Horne of the Sleep Research Centre, this is a myth.
In reality, this misguided belief was based on a 1913 study that found children aged 8 to 17 slept for nine hours a night. Adults may have slept less. So according to Horne, it’s perfectly possible for some adults to thrive on five, six or seven hours of sleep a night.
However, sleep researchers have also found that it takes just a single night of sleeping only four to six hours to impact your ability to think clearly the next day. So the research is really all over the place.
The truth is, there really is no magic number of hours that’s right for everyone.