Sleeping in on the weekends could help you lose weight

Adobe

The most cherished mornings in your household are likely those where you don’t have to set your alarm. So you probably don’t need another excuse for hitting the snooze button. But in case you were feeling guilty about it, a study conducted in South Korea for Sleep Journal found that sleeping in on the weekends could actually help you lose weight.

The whole point of sleeping in on the weekends is usually to catch up on all those hours of sleep you missed during the week due to work and other obligations. But according to researchers, you might have anther reason now for doing do. They say that study participants who slept more hours on the weekends had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.8, while those who didn’t engage in catch-up sleep averaged a BMI of 23.1.

They note this as a “small but statistically meaningful difference.”

sleep photo
Getty Images | Ryan Pierse

“Short sleepers tend to eat more meals per day, snack more, engage in more screen time and may be less likely to move due to increased sensations of fatigue when not rested,” Jean-Philippe Chaput of the University of Ottawa in Canada told Reuters.

Health.com points out that setting an earlier bed time can be crucial to weight loss. “Sleep and metabolism are controlled by the same sectors of the brain,” David Rapoport, Associate Professor at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Health.com. “When you are sleepy, certain hormones go up in your blood, and those same hormones drive appetite.”

food photo
Getty Images | Cate Gillon

So not only will sleep boost your metabolism and therefore curb your appetite, but it’ll make you more willing to get up and move around, which is crucial, since exercise can contribute to helping you get a full night’s rest, too.

As if all of that didn’t already have you convinced to set your alarm for later, knowing precisely how many calories you burn while sleeping may do just the trick. According to FitDay, a person will burn approximately 0.42 calories for every pound in one hour of sleep. Meaning that a 150-pound person burns around 63 calories in one hour.

Better be sure to get at least the full seven to nine hours of recommended sleep, huh?

Health
, , ,

Related posts

Woman opens curtains at open window after sleeping
What is lüften and should you be doing it for better sleep?
Pairs of pajamas for menopause
The best cooling pajamas for hot flashes
Woman sleeps in bed on white sheets
10 ways to make daylight saving time easier on your body
Woman sleeps peacefully
19 gifts for people who love sleep more than life itself

About the Author
Augusta Statz
I have a B.F.A. in Writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m an avid writer with a genuine sense of curiosity. I feel the best way to absorb the world around you is through fashion, art and food, so that’s what I spend most of my time writing about.

From our partners