Scientists Say This Trick To Losing Weight While You Sleep Is Not A Gimmick
The general rule is that if its too good to be true, then it probably isnt. But burning fat while sleeping in a cold room seems to be the real deal.
- Professor Grossman, who conducted the Oxford study, believes that chilly air in the bedroom that lowers the temperature even a few degrees might even help those who have type-2 diabetes.
- The Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands conducted a study that concluded that keeping the thermostat at around 60 degrees for a few hours a day will help keep weight down.
According to a scholar at the National Sleep Foundation, there are several other benefits of fresh air and a cool bedroom.
- Fresh air has a cooling effect, which is key to getting a good nights sleep
- People associate fresh air with relaxation and thus it can help make folks sleepy and
- A drop in temperature tells the body that the day is done and its time for bed.
Some Types Of Fat Are Good
We have three types of fat — brown, white and, now we are finding out, beige.
Brown fat, which is the fat we are born with that allows babies at birth to go from a warm uterus of 98 degrees Fahrenheit to room temperature of around 74 degrees. This fat is not associated with health problems. It got its name because it looks brown under a microscope due to its containing many mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells that produce energy. Mitochondria contain a protein called UCP1 that breaks down fat to make heat.
Belly fat is bad for your heart, researchers say
Brown fat is usually found in the neck, upper back and around the spinal cord and is responsible for burning calories in order to generate heat. As we get older, we lose this good fat.
White fat is the opposite. It lacks those energy-producing centers, mitochondria, and is the most common type of fat for adults. It insulates and cushions our vital organs such as the kidneys and heart. This fat interacts with hormones such as cortisol, the stress hormone, and insulin. Having a lot of this type of fat is associated with heart disease, diabetes and many types of cancers.
Longer Studies Are Needed Researchers Say
Tasali says the findings are important for a few reasons: The research was done in a real-world setting, and not in a sleep lab, with participants maintaining their normal eating habits and sleeping in their own beds. The results were also objective, and free from self-reporting wrist sensors recorded sleep duration, and the urine-based tests measured caloric intake.
The study has its caveats, though. For starters, the duration was only two weeks. It also excluded people with sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, and those who work night shifts or rotating shift work. Its unclear if people who are already getting enough sleep would see the same benefit.
We dont know to what extent the habits would have been continued beyond two weeks. Longer-term studies are needed, and with more diverse populations, but its our general hypothesis that this intervention would apply to populations with various baseline weights and sleep duration, she says.
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Drinking Green Tea During The Day
Green tea is not a sleep-friendly beverage because it contains high levels of caffeine and other wake-inducing compounds. However, green tea can be of great assistance when it comes to calorie and fat burning.
Its weight loss properties are effective even hours after consumption. That is why we recommend daily green tea intake, which will promote faster belly fat loss during the night.
More to know: Green Tea Before Bedtime: Good or Bad Idea?
The Best Temperature For Exercise
“You burn more calories when you exercise in the heat. However, the best range of temperature to burn fat and calories, and to exercise longer, is around 68 degrees, so I recommend that temperature,” Dr. Higgins says. “The more intense you exercise, the more calories you burn. Exercising in higher temperatures, like 100 degrees, burns more calories from glycogen and less from fat.”
A final thing to remember about exercising in the heat: You may burn more calories, but you also put a lot more stress on your body. The combination of exercise and heat can increase your body temperature into a range where you push past your body’s ability to cool itself by sweating. This puts you at risk for a heat-related illness like heat exhaustion or heatstroke, according to the Mayo Clinic.
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Are There Any Health Risks
As long as you feel comfortable, there are no health risks to sleeping in a colder room. Ideally, you should keep the temperature between 60 and 68 degrees to experience the maximum benefits.
Keep in mind that if youre too cold, youll either have to bundle up, which will cause you to feel hot later, or youll be shivering and too uncomfortable to sleep deeply.
If you have an infant in the room with you, youll need to adjust your range. Infants should sleep in rooms ranging from 68 to 72 degrees. Anything cooler and theyll tend to be extra fussy.
Need more info? Read our full guide to ideal room temp for baby.
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Does Keeping The Air Cold Burn Extra Calories At Your Desk
Many offices have very cold air conditioning in the summer. INSIDER asked the nutritionist if freezing would help burn extra calories throughout the day. Research shows that colder environments burn more calories. But the effects are quite weak and are unlikely to lead to weight loss or body transformation.
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You Release More Melatonin
Melatonin is an important hormone for sleep . Your body releases more melatonin when its time to sleep in order to send you off into dreamland. The cold helps your body produce more melatonin and promotes sleep. Ideally, your room should be between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit in order to promote natural melatonin production.
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You Lower Your Risk For Metabolic Disease
One study found that sleeping in a room set to 66 degrees can help prevent certain metabolic diseases, like diabetes. Participants not only burned more calories when they were awake, but also nearly doubled their amount of brown fat, or good fat, which allows the body store fewer calories. Over time, this can lower the risk of metabolic diseases.
So, put on your favorite PJs, turn the A/C down to 65 degrees, and get ready to catch some zzz’s.
This story’s headline was updated 7/3/19 to clarify some of the reporting.
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I’m in the fetal position at the bottom of a swimming pool. Water temperature: 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In my lap there’s a 20-pound weight anchoring me in place. All I’m wearing is a Speedo, a nose plug, goggles, and a snorkel resembling an oversize asthma inhaler. The mouthpiece connects to two 4-foot hoses feeding out of the water and into a PC-sized box next to a laptop.
After 20 minutes in the water, I’m shivering intensely. But that doesn’t bother me so much as the headache. It feels like a set of pliers is clamping the back of my neck while someone pricks my temples with icy-hot needles.
My suffering is natural, I tell myself. It could even be good for me.
Cronise got the idea back in 2008 while watching a TV program about Michael Phelps. The coverage claimed that, while training, the Olympic swimmer ate 12,000 calories a day. At the time, Cronise was on a diet of 12,000 calories per week. Something didn’t add up. Even if Phelps had an exceptionally high metabolism and swam three hours a day, he still should have turned into a blob. Then it hit Cronise: Phelps was spending hours every day in water, which was sucking heat from his body. He was burning extra calories just to maintain his core temperature of 98.6.
Cypess warns that until more studies are completed, dieters should be wary of freezing themselves to get skinny.
Should You Use A Sauna Or Steam Room For Weight Loss
When on a weight loss journey, its important to find the practices, tools, and activities that work for your body. For years, people have used the power of heat through sauna and steam room use during their process. While both are similar tools, they each offer unique benefits for losing weight. So when it comes down to it, should you use a sauna or steam room for weight loss?
Below, learn more about how these tools aid in losing weight and find information on the shared weight loss benefits of sauna and steam room use, along with the differences that set them apart when sweating it out:
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But The Cold Can Also Burn Calories
External temperature can affect your basal metabolic rate, according to the American Council on Exercise. Basal metabolic rate is the energy you need to keep up with breathing, maintaining a stable body temperature, digesting your food, making hormones and more. You’re always burning calories, even when you are sitting still or sleeping.
But when you’re cold, your basal metabolic rate increases, because your body needs to work harder to keep your body temperature up. That burns extra calories. In fact, just to raise your body temperature by one-half degree centigrade, your basal metabolic rate needs to increase by about 7 percent.
Your metabolic rate is how fast you burn calories to produce energy. When you take in calories from food or drink, your body combines those calories with oxygen to burn them. How many calories you burn under any condition, whether hot or cold, depends on your individual metabolism. The size of your body, your body composition and your age all affect the number of calories burned, per the Mayo Clinic.
Cold weather doesn’t increase calories burned unless you get really cold and start to shiver, according to the ACE. Shivering is a sign that your body is working really hard to keep your body temperature normal. In some cases, shivering can burn through your sugar reserves for energy and burn up to 400 calories per hour. That is a lot of calories, but it leaves you drained and exhausted.
Evidence Points To A Link Between Poor Sleep And Obesity
If we make poor food choices when were tired, does it follow that repeatedly not getting enough sleep could lead to issues with weight gain and obesity?
There are enough big signals about what pre-empts weight gain and Type 2 diabetes that we can say if youre not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, it strongly looks likely it will cause a problem, says Professor Scott.
Research that backs this up has been produced by Dr Erin Hanlon, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, and her colleagues. In 2016, they wanted to see if sleep deprivation impacts chemical signals which, in turn, make people crave high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods.
With existing research often focussing on how poor sleep impacts levels of the hormones ghrelin and leptin , the scientists wanted to measure another chemical signal: endocannabinoid which is associated with making us crave highly-palatable foods.
Their study found that when sleep deprived, the participants eCB levels were increased and amplified. The result? The participants started reaching for unhealthy snacks because they didnt feel full.
Looking back at the study and other research carried out, Dr Hanlon says I personally feel confident there is a link between sleep deficiency and increased feeding, and moreover that sleep deficiency is one of the contributing factors in the rise in obesity.
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Set Yourself A Bedtime
We all acknowledge that getting an optimal amount of sleep is paramount to our health, and yet busy schedules, movies, and cellphones get in the way of getting sound sleep. Committing to a healthy number of snoozing hours per night helps the body to burn more fat. An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that well-rested people burned 20% more calories after eating than those who got less, improper sleep.
How To Sleep Better
Establish a healthy sleep routine. Head to bed as early as possible and at the same time each night. And try to skip naps. Aim for at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Avoid late-night eating. Stop eating about two hours before bedtime to allow food to settle and digest. Avoid oily or fatty foods that could cause heartburn or reflux, making it difficult to sleep.
Eat a light, healthy breakfast within two hours of waking to kick-start your metabolism.
Enjoy the daylight, as this keeps your circadian rhythm your internal body clock healthy. Take a daily walk outside and open the blinds or curtains in your home.
Avoid Smartphones and TV before bed. The blue light that emits from these devices can decrease the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. So put away the electronics at least an hour or two before bed.
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Want An Easy Way To Lose Weight Open A Window Before Bed: Being Cold Helps To Burn Fat Without Trying
- Ashley Grossman is a doctor and research scientist at Oxford University
- Advice is centred on ‘bad’ white fat and ‘good’ fat-burning brown fat
- Being cold can make the body convert some white fat into brown
- It means the body burns calories while generating heat at the same time
11:41 EDT, 9 September 2016 | Updated:
An Oxford University professor has come up with a cool way to lose weight.
Ashley Grossman, a doctor and research scientist, said that something as simple as throwing open the bedroom windows before going to sleep could help fat melt away.
The advice is centred on the fact we have two types of body fat.
The troublesome white variety soaks up extra calories and stores them in bellies, love handles and thighs.
But adults also have a small amount of brown healthy fat. This specialises in burning off calories and generates heat as it does so.
Sleeping with the windows open could be an effective way of losing weight as being cold can turn good white fat into good brown fat – which burns off calories and generates heat
Fortunately for those battling the bulge, bad white fat can be turned into good brown fat and cold can trigger the conversion.
Professor Grossman said: My great aunt Norah was married to my uncle Albert and Norah and Albert lived in this little flat and whenever you went in there, you had to take a deep breath because it was boiling hot.
/6winter Foods That Can Aid Weight Loss
Carrots
Carrots are full of fibre. They keep you fuller for longer and help in digestion. Carrots are also low in calories. You can add them to your salads, soups or smoothies.
Beetroot
Beetroot is packed with fibre. A hundred grams of beetroot has 43 calories and 0.2 grams of fat and 10 grams of carbohydrates. You can use beetroot to make salads, soups, juices and smoothies.
Guava
Guavas are rich in fibre and fulfil about 12 per cent of your daily recommended intake of fibre. It also improves your digestion, boosts metabolism and helps in weight loss.
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Chill Out: Sleeping In Cooler Temperatures May Increase Your Metabolism
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Want an excuse to crank up the air conditioning?
A new study found that when men slept in cooler conditions, it gave their metabolism a boost. Just by sleeping in a colder room, they gained metabolic advantages, says Francesco S. Celi, MD, lead author of the study.
Researchers with the National Institutes of Health recruited five men to sleep in climate-controlled rooms for four months, during which time they adjusted the temperature. After sleeping for a month in a 66-degree room, the lowest setting tested, the subjects had more brown fat in their bodies, which researchers say is the key to the metabolic improvements.
The term brown fat might not sound appealing, but its effects are. Its metabolically active fat, unlike white fat, says Timothy E. Graham, MD, an assistant professor of medicine, biochemistry and nutrition at the University of Utah and director of the University of Utah’s Diabetes and Heart Disease Prevention Program.
White fat is more of a storage fat, while brown fat burns calories to help the body maintain its core temperature. Brown fat is more prevalent in babies because they need it to help stay warm, according to the National Institutes of Health, but its now known that adults retain some in the neck and shoulders. Although the five men in the study didnt burn enough calories to lose weight, the additional brown fat prompted metabolic changes that lowered their risk for diabetes.
Can You Lose Weight By Sleeping For Longer
Youre exhausted. So tired you dont know how youre going to get through the rest of the day. You need that energy hit and reach for the foods you know will give it to you carbs, chocolate and a sugary caffeinated drink.
Sound familiar?
Whether its external factors or lifes stresses that keep you tossing and turning all night, when youve not caught many zzzs, its easy to reach for foods you ordinarily avoid.
What happens if this is a frequent occurrence? Will you inevitably always opt for the wrong food and be more likely to gain weight? If you try to lose extra pounds, will you find it harder because your tiredness saps your motivation? And does a good nights sleep mean youll more often than not opt for food packed with nutrients that could aid weight loss? Most importantly, if youre struggling with sleep and sticking to a diet, what can you do to improve both?
We looked into the science and received some advice for sufferers too
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