A good night’s sleep might help curb the calories

A good night’s sleep might help curb the calories


 

You don’t have to dream of losing weight. A new study suggests you can dream while shedding the pounds.

An investigation out of the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin suggests that a good night’s sleep can help reduce the number of calories we take in. While one guess is that more time sleeping means less time available to eat, researchers are nonetheless unsure what exactly is behind the phenomenon.

Scientists conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 80 adults who were tracked for four weeks. Participants who weren’t getting enough sleep were able to quickly increase the time in dreamland by 1.2 hours per night after receiving personalized sleep hygiene counseling. One suggestion: Put away the smartphone before hitting the pillow. Before the counseling sessions, these night owls were averaging less than 6.5 hours of sleep nightly.

That extra sleep translated to fewer calories consumed — about 270 fewer per day.

These results, however, might have been surprising to those who saw earlier, unrelated research showing sleep restriction sparks the appetite and can lead to weight gain. Anyone who’s spent time watching late-night television while munching a bag of chips might recognize this tendency.

An advantage of the study was that it was conducted in the real world. Participants slept in their own beds and were not asked to diet, exercise more or to avoid any kind of food at all. If someone wanted to eat a box of donuts, well, they ate a box of donuts.

Scientists note that 270 fewer calories a day would amount to a 26-pound weight loss over the course of three years.

So, count calories, not sheep, at bedtime. Sweet dreams.

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