When it comes to weight loss and maintaining a healthy body, many people think burning calories is only achieved through exercise and physical activities. However, a lesser-known fact is that you also burn calories while sleeping.
Your Body’s Calorie-Burning Machine: The Basal Metabolic Rate
Even when your body is at rest, it still requires energy to perform essential functions – this expenditure of energy contributes to what is known as the basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is essentially the number of calories your body needs in order to maintain its normal functions while resting. This includes maintaining your body temperature, cell production, regulating hormones, and other vital processes.
The average BMR for women is around 1,400 calories per day, while for men, it’s approximately 1,800. These numbers can vary depending on age, weight, height, physical fitness, and overall health. So, with these facts in mind, how do we calculate our calorie burn during sleep?
Calories Burned While Sleeping: Factors Influencing Energy Expenditure
The number of calories burned while sleeping varies from person to person based on several factors including:
- Sleep duration: Simply put, the longer you sleep, the more calories you’ll burn during that period.
- Body weight: A heavier person will typically burn more calories than someone who weighs less because their body requires more energy to perform essential bodily functions.
- Muscle mass: Individuals with increased muscle mass have a higher BMR since muscle consumes more energy than fat, even at rest.
- Age: As we age, our BMR gradually decreases due to changes in muscle mass and hormonal levels.
- Gender: Men tend to burn more calories during sleep than women as they have a higher percentage of muscle mass, which contributes to a higher BMR.
An Example of Calories Burnt During Sleep
If we take the example of a 30-year-old woman who weighs 150 pounds and sleeps for eight hours, her BMR would be around 1,400 calories per day. Considering that there are 24 hours in a day, she would burn approximately 58.33 calories per hour while at rest (1,400 divided by 24).
In this example, the woman would burn around 466.64 calories during her 8-hour sleep (8 multiplied by 58.33). Keep in mind that this is just a rough estimate and individual factors can cause these numbers to fluctuate.
Tips to Help You Burn More Calories While Sleeping
Since sleeping burns a considerable amount of calories, it’s worth exploring ways to optimize your calorie burn during this time. Here are six tips to help you get the most out of your sleep:
- Maintain consistent sleep schedule: Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day helps regulate your body’s internal clock, making it easier to fall asleep and ultimately increasing the number of calories burnt during sleep.
- Quality over quantity: Prioritize a good night’s sleep with continuous, uninterrupted hours of rest rather than trying to achieve a specific number of hours. Poor-quality sleep may lead to less calorie burn as your body isn’t functioning optimally.
- Stay active during the day: Participating in daily physical activity helps boost your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories while resting.
- Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillow: Comfortable sleep setup contributes to quality sleep by reducing the chances of tossing and turning throughout the night, and therefore further aiding calorie burn.
- Maintain a cool sleeping environment: When your body is exposed to cooler temperatures, it works harder to maintain its average temperature. This increased metabolic activity may lead to burning extra calories.
- Practice relaxation techniques before bed: Engaging in calming activities such as meditation or reading can help enhance sleep quality and improve overall calorie expenditure.
The Bottom Line: Sleep Contributes to Overall Health
While the number of calories burnt during sleep might not seem like much compared to an intense workout, every little bit counts when it comes to maintaining your overall health. Regularly achieving quality sleep should be considered an essential part of any healthy lifestyle plan, including weight management. So, make sure to prioritize your slumber to benefit from both the mental and physical rewards it has to offer!
