As you sleep, your body burns calories, causing you to lose between 1 to 4 pounds of your weight overnight; this weight loss can be regarded as temporary weight loss because you need to consume fewer calories than you burn to avoid weight gain.
A healthy diet and exercises are the most excellent weight loss combos but do you know enough overnight sleep can get you to your desired weight? How much weight do you lose overnight? It is one of the hot topics in the fitness journey, and we have the answers for you.
A good night’s sleep assists your body in getting rid of waste products & toxins, repairing itself, and consistently maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, allowing it to purify, heal, and rejuvenate itself.
This article contains all the necessary information on sleep and how much weight you lose overnight. You also get to understand why you lose weight overnight, the role of sleep duration and quality on weight loss, and how to improve your bedtime routine to support long-term weight loss.
How Much Weight Do You Lose Overnight? During sleep, the body can burn calories, because while sleeping, more energy is needed to keep the heart, brain, lungs, and other vital systems active. Healthy sleep habits might be the missing link for more productive weight management. As you sleep, your body burns calories, causing you to lose between 1 to 4 pounds of your weight overnight; this weight loss can be regarded as temporary weight loss because you need to consume fewer calories than you burn to avoid weight gain.
Why You Lose Weight Overnight
Water Weight
The average human body contains about 55% to 60% water[1], a significant portion of your body weight, which accounts for weight loss due to water weight. Some estimates assume that 80% of overnight weight loss results from water loss, but this claim depends on body composition and metabolic rate. Generally, burning body fat cells overnight occurs:
When You Sweat
The body will naturally release over 200 milliliters of sweat if you sleep for eight hours because the body temperature remains within the average temperature of 85°F, but on hotter nights, the body tends to produce more sweat as transpiration occurs, i.e., you lose water through the skin.
Diet can also affect how much you naturally sweat at night. Take the example of having a spicy dinner before bed. Your body will lose more water to aid digestion by cooling off spice molecules that might have seeped into the cells, causing you to sweat more and lose water.
Through Urination
As you grow older and your body develops, the more urine you produce because the amount of water and food taken during the day increases as you get older.
A breakdown of toxins and body waste will ultimately lead to certain portions becoming urine, and because the body cannot absorb urine, the only way to get rid of it is out of the body.
Carbon Loss
The body’s normal function is to breathe in oxygen molecules and breathe out carbon dioxide. And for every single exhalation, two or more ounces of cells escape, which accounts for carbon loss.
An extra oxygen atom escapes through every exhalation, attaching its weight to the carbon; this means you simultaneously release oxygen and carbon dioxide every time you exhale.
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Although the weight of a single carbon atom relative to the body weight is barely negligible when you sleep, you inhale and exhale more than a hundred times, reducing your body’s weight.
Health Conditions
Hypothyroidism[2] occurs when the thyroid gland (a small butterfly-shaped gland in the neck region) is underactive, i.e., it cannot produce the hormones triiodothyronine and thyroxine that contribute to the body’s metabolism. A person suffering from hypothyroidism is likely to burn more calories than usual because the thyroid glands cannot regulate the metabolic rate in the body.
Common symptoms of hypothyroidism include; a weaker immune system when cold, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, irregular or heavy periods, decreased sweating, constipation, etc. Please visit a registered health center as soon as possible to get tested.
Role Of Sleep Duration And Quality On Weight Loss
The recommended and most adequate sleep time for adults is from seven to nine hours (an average range of eight hours) overnight, but not a lot of people keep to this sleeping standard, and several studies show that sleeping less than the recommended time can be linked to obesity and diabetes.
A study[3] by Harvard compared women older than 16 years who sleep for seven hours at night and those who sleep for less than five hours; the study found that 15% of the former were likely to gain weight or be obese; this research also includes that struggling with sleep deprivation or getting less sleep and circadian rhythm poses a risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Another research[4] conducted by Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting in 2009 had healthy young men participate in a weight loss research where an average number of them lost a quarter (1/4) pound per hour while they slept.
Poor sleep quality decreases physical activity, which affects weight management because the less sleep you get, the more tired you become. Instead of building muscle mass from continuous physical activity, you are stuck with weight gain from unbalanced hormones, unhealthy diets, and fatigue.How much time you spend sleeping affects how much time you have to eat; it’s either you get enough sleep, have lesslesser time at hand to take in more food, stabilize your hunger hormones or sleep less and have more time to eat more. Those are the only two ways you can have it.
Poor sleep quality decreases physical activities, which affects weight management because the less amount of sleep you get, the more tired you are to become. Instead of building muscle mass from continuous physical activity, you are stuck with weight gain from unbalanced hormones, unhealthy diets, and fatigue.
Improving your bedtime routine can support long-term weight loss
Stick to a schedule
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Sleep curtailment is sometimes a result of an unregulated sleep schedule. Getting the body to fall asleep quicker, demanding immediate productivity, and seeking excessive solutions to balancing your schedule might do more harm than good.
It is advisable to monitor your night and day schedule and how much energy you use during the day and at night. Rearrange your work time to the day to build up a more tasking daytime so you are tired and can fall asleep quicker at a particular bedtime. Do well to stick to your sleep time for effectiveness.
Use relaxation techniques
Meditation, drinking a cup of chamomile tea, soothing music, aromatherapy, and deep breathing exercises are relaxation techniques you can try to improve your bedtime routine. Relaxing your brain puts your body in a safe and comforting position, making it super easy to fall asleep.
Turn off the lights
The hormone (Melatonin), responsible for regulating the sleep-wake cycles, is influenced by light exposure from light sources like the sun, fluorescent lights, LEDs, and other sources of blue light—the greater the light, the less melatonin produced by the brain.
So, do well to turn off the lights or reduce when you’re about to go to bed. Your gadgets (computers, tablets, phones, etc.) produce blue lights, too, and it is advisable to avoid using such devices right before bed. Instead, listen to a podcast or read a book on your bed.
Lower the temperature
The temperature in your room affects your regular sleep schedule, and as your body prepares to sleep, its temperature decreases. If your room’s temperature is quite hot, you might find it difficult to sleep because your body’s temperature increases to balance with your room’s temperature.
Regulating your room’s temperature to attain a more relaxed environment for sleep will surely help you sleep better. Some studies show that room temperature at 66–70°F (19–21°C) is ideal for a good night’s sleep.
Conclusion
A good night’s sleep causes you to lose some pounds from water weight (night sweats and urination) and carbon loss but getting the balanced weight loss equation controls your weight in the long run.
If you want to stay on track and be consistent with your weight loss plan, exercise, and diet, a stable sleeping schedule is the needed balance to achieve productive results. Convincing debates support this claim by lowering obesity through sustainable weight loss while promoting enough sleep.
Remember that sleep is an added advantage to a healthy lifestyle, not a leading factor in burning calories. Practicing habits like setting and maintaining a regular sleep schedule and reducing caffeine intake at night improves sleep quality.
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Photo: Anouk Doe
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