LIFESTYLE
Bedtime habits to help you lose weight
Here’s what you should do
Vanessa Haber
8-September-2020
You can’t imagine how much the habits you do before going to bed can affect your weight and your ability to lose extra pounds. Nighttime can be terrible for people who love to binge eating while watching their favorite TV shows in bed before sleeping. Therefore, start making the switch to healthy choices instead, to keep your body in shape. Here are some bedtime habits that will help you lose weight.
Drink a glass of milk
Studies have shown that drinking milk or eating any dairy products before bed helps fight cravings in the middle of the night. This means that it would cut your appetite. Also, milk helps build muscle while you sleep, which boosts your body's metabolism and its ability to burn calories.
Avoid caffeine
When we think of losing weight, we think of green tea. It may be beneficial for weight loss, but since it contains caffeine, it will prevent you from having a good night sleep. Instead, try chamomile tea, which contains active ingredients that improve your sleep. It is also anti-inflammatory and helps with digestive disorders and upset stomach.
Sleep and wake up at the same time
Research suggests that an unregulated sleep schedule is linked to weight gain. The reason is that Melatonin stimulates the body to go to sleep and helps to activate fat cells that burn calories.
When your sleep is inconsistent, it will definitely affect melatonin production and deprive you of quality sleep, which increases stress and feeling exhausted in the morning craving high-calorie meals to replenish your energy. Try to avoid this inconsistency by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
Unplug your devices
An inconsistent routine is not only the thing that disturbs melatonin production but the blue light emitted from your phones and electronic devices’ screens have the same effect as well.
It has been proven that blue light from smart phones delays melatonin production. Therefore, it takes you longer to fall asleep and you wake up tired. Try to avoid it two hours before bedtime. Also, make sure you take at least 30 minutes to relax on your own before going to sleep, by reading a book for example, so you can sleep peacefully and deeply.