It seems logical to connect staying up longer with weight loss. You’re moving around more, which burns more calories. If you don’t eat more, you should burn more calories. That’s not necessarily true. There is a link between weight loss and sleep, but the lack of sleep often causes you to pack on the pounds, not lose them. Aside from the potential of eating more, lack of sleep negatively affects your body and makes it harder to shed extra pounds.

Lack of sleep disrupts hormone levels.

When you have adequate sleep, your body produces a balance of hunger hormone—ghrelin—and satiety hormone—leptin. When you lack sleep, the body produces more ghrelin and less leptin. You’ll feel hungrier. It causes you to overeat because not enough satiety hormones trigger to tell your body you’re full. Your body works against you, making you excessively hungry throughout the day. Lack of sleep can also leave you feeling dragged out and exhausted. Many people turn to high-calorie sugary treats for a lift, which adds excess calories.

Lack of sleep slows your metabolism.

Your body requires continuous calories to provide energy, whether asleep or awake. It uses calories to pump blood, digest food, maintain body temperature, grow hair, build muscle tissue, and maintain hormone and chemical levels throughout the body. It is called the basal metabolism rate—BMR. You can raise your BMR in several ways. Building more muscle tissue is one way. Another is to get adequate sleep.

You burn more calories when you sleep soundly.

How sound you sleep also makes a difference. There are four stages of sleep. One stage is REM—rapid eye movement and the other three are NREM—non-rapid eye movement. You go through these four stages several times a night. When you have poor sleep quality, you may not enter REM sleep or limit the amount you get. REM sleep burns more calories and is necessary for a healthy body. You can boost the calories you burn when you sleep by eating a small amount of protein, like cottage cheese or warm milk, a half hour to an hour before bedtime.

• Sleep sounder and burn more calories by keeping your room cooler. Studies show that temperatures at 65 to 68 degrees help you sleep better than cooler or warmer temperatures.
• People who sleep well at night have more energy the following day. They tend to be more active and burn more calories.
• Eating a big meal before falling asleep can disrupt sleep. Some people do require a small snack to sleep well. It’s instinctive. Early man needed to stay awake until he found food to prevent starvation.
• One of the most helpful ways to improve sleep is a sleep schedule. Going to bed and arising at the same time daily sets the circadian rhythm that controls sleep so you fall asleep quicker. You must keep the schedule every day, including weekends.

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