Does losing weight while sleeping sound like a good idea to you? Increasingly more scientific evidence is revealing the role sleep plays in fat loss. Both the quantity and quality of sleep affects fat loss.

Have you ever had a night of restless sleep, with the following day always feeling hungry or never fully satisfied even after taking your meals? During your sleep, leptin production levels increase so that your body can go without food. Ghrelin levels decrease so you will not feel hungry. Ghrelin boosts appetite and increases fat production. Without sufficient amounts of sleep, both your leptin and ghrelin levels in your body will not be at their ideal levels. Sleep is the time for repairing all of your body systems. Without adequate time for your body to rest and repair itself, appetite regulation will go out of balance. Increased hunger and reduced sense of fullness will easily lead to overeating and therefore weight gain.

Researchers have determined that when a person gets less than seven hours of sleep a day, there is a much greater amount of hormonal change in his or her body, leading to weight gain. Less sleep occasionally is acceptable, but if you find that you regularly do that, then try to go to bed earlier and have more sleep; you will probably find yourself losing weight easier.

Getting sufficient REM (rapid eye movement) sleep appears to be an important element in helping to regulate ghrelin and leptin hormones as well as cortisol production. The longer cycles of REM sleep, which usually only occur after six hours of sleeping seem to be one important factor in helping to keep hormones in equilibrium. REM sleep is when your brain is at its most active state and is actually helping you to burn calories. If you get tired in the middle of the day, take a nap of less than 30 minutes. If you were to feel refreshed and energized every morning, it will naturally lead to better food choices and a greater desire to get active!

Therefore, you should get seven to eight hours of sleep per night so that your brain will have the chance to burn calories and let your hormones get back into equilibrium. Wake up to take a healthy breakfast and begin each day with renewed energy. Together with regular exercise and good diet choices, getting sufficient sleep can greatly aid weight loss.