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Does oversleeping burn more calories?

During REM sleep, our glucose metabolism increases, accelerating the rate of calorie-burn. The longer you sleep, the more calories you burn — but oversleeping has the reverse effect, and slows down metabolism.

insider.com - Your body burns calories while you sleep — here's how to burn the most

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The INSIDER Summary:

Our bodies burn calories when we sleep, especially during the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage, according to sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus.

During REM sleep, our glucose metabolism increases, accelerating the rate of calorie-burn.

The longer you sleep, the more calories you burn — but oversleeping has the reverse effect, and slows down metabolism. Many people obsess over how many calories they're burning during the day, but few realize that they can burn calories simply by getting a good night's sleep. "There’s a tremendous amount of evidence that shows that if you’re not sleeping both from a quality and a quantity standpoint you will gain weight," sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus told INSIDER. Our bodies burn the most calories during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, he said. "We burn the most calories in [this stage] because that’s when we burn the most glucose" and "when our brains are the most active."

How does it work?

The doctor breaks down this process in his book, "The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan: Lose Weight Through Better Sleep." "Glucose metabolism starts to increase in the second half of the night when you enter REM sleep," he writes. "Amazingly, the better you sleep, the more calories you burn." The amount of sleep you're getting has an impact, too. "The longer you sleep, the more REM sleep you get, so you will burn more calories if you sleep longer," he writes. Not getting enough sleep can even affect your calorie intake the next day. Sleep deprivation makes people hungrier, especially for foods that are high in fat, plus sleeping less leaves more time to eat. That said, you won't burn a ton of calories by sleeping all day, as over-sleeping has the reverse effect. Breus explains that "those who sleep too long have slower metabolisms because they stay in bed instead of expending energy."

How many calories do you burn in your sleep?

Given that people weigh different amounts and need different amounts of sleep, it's hard to give a concrete number of calories the average person burns in their sleep. This Fit Day article provides a formula to help you estimate roughly how many calories you burn while you're asleep. According to the article, you can work out your calorie expenditure by multiplying 0.42 calories — the average amount of calories a person burns for every pound they weigh in one hour of sleep — by your weight in pounds and the hours that you sleep. As an example, the article calculates that someone weighing 150 pounds who sleeps for eight hours would burn approximately 63 calories an hour, totaling 504 calories during their sleep. It's worth noting, though, that this calculation doesn't take into account that the most calorie-burning happens in the REM stage of sleep, nor any habits that can impact your sleep, like eating late at night.

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How to burn more calories while you sleep

Eat smaller meals for dinner — and don't eat late at night.

"When you eat large meals close to bed[time], your body doesn’t have an opportunity to metabolize through it," Breus said. He explained that the brain emits a growth hormone during stages of deep sleep; when we eat late at night, that growth hormone prompts the body to store food as fat instead of fuel. That's why it's worth cutting down on portion sizes at dinner time. "In America we have a tendency to have our largest meal at night and our smallest meal in the morning," he said. "The exact opposite is what we should be doing."

Stop drinking alcohol three hours before bed.

While a couple of glasses of wine with dinner is fine, Breus recommends curbing alcohol intake at least three hours before going to bed. "You need to stop and give yourself a little time so that your body can metabolize through that alcohol, otherwise it keeps you out of those deeper stages of sleep and that can be a problem," he said. As he explained, it's during REM sleep — a deep stage of sleep — that our bodies can burn the most calories.

Exercise every day — but not before bed.

Frequent exercise is a good idea for anyone looking to burn calories during the day or night. However, Breus warns that it's best to stop working out about four hours before bedtime. "Some people tend to get kind of revved up from exercise and we want to make sure they’re not too revved up to sleep," he said. With exercise, "you increase your core body temperature and so it’s hard to fall asleep when your body’s hot."

Sleep in the nude.

Yes, you read that right.

In a Psychology Today article on the benefits of sleeping naked, Breus points to research that suggests that sleeping naked keeps the body cool, which can increase the body's reserves of brown fat — a good kind of fat that burns energy in calories. If you'd rather keep your pajamas on, keeping your bedroom cool can have the same impact. Some studies have shown that sleeping in a colder temperature increases the number of calories burned.

insider.com - Your body burns calories while you sleep — here's how to burn the most

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