How Sleeping Can Help Drop Pounds Fast For Summer

1. TRYP YOUR SLEEP SWITCH.

Don’t count sheep, eat lamb! (Or better yet, a bit of turkey.) Tryptophan, an amino acid found in most meats,
has demonstrated powerful sleep-inducing effects. A recent study among insomniacs found that just 1/4 gram—about what you’ll find in a skinless chicken drumstick or 3 ounces of lean turkey meat—was enough to significantly increase hours of deep sleep. And that can translate into easy weight loss. Researchers from the University of Colorado found that dieters consumed 6 percent fewer calories when they got enough sleep.12
For someone on a 2,000-calorie diet, that’s 120 calories per day, which could amount to nearly a 1-pound weight loss in a month! The National Sleep Foundation suggests seven to eight hours of sleep for most adults.

2. SET STRICT KITCHEN HOURS.

Nighttime fasting—a.k.a. closing
the kitchen early—may help you lose more weight, even if you eat more food throughout the day, according to a study in the journal Cell Metabolism.13 Researchers put groups of mice on a high-fat, high-calorie diet for one hundred days. Half of them were allowed to nibble throughout the night and day on a healthy, controlled diet, while the others only had access to food for eight hours, but could eat whatever they wanted. The result of the sixteen-hour food ban? The fasting mice stayed lean, while the mice who noshed ’round the clock became obese—even though both groups consumed the same amount of calories!

3. SHAKE THINGS UP.

Having a protein shake before hitting the sack 
may boost your metabolism, according to one Florida State University study.14 Researchers found that men who consumed an evening snack that included 30 grams of either whey or casein protein had a higher resting metabolic rate the next morning than when eating nothing. Protein is more thermogenic than carbs or fat, meaning your body burns more calories digesting it.

4. MAKE A MINT.

Certain scents can make your mouth water, and
others can actually suppress your appetite. One study published in the Journal of Neurological and Orthopaedic Medicine found that people
who sniffed peppermint every two hours lost an average of 5 pounds a month!15 Banana, green apple, and vanilla had similar effects. Consider burning a minty candle until you head to bed to fill the room with slimming smells. If you don’t want to bother with blowing out candles before you turn down the covers, try adding a few drops of peppermint oil to your pillow.

5. LET IN THE COLD.

A striking new study published in the journal Diabetes suggests that simply blasting the air conditioner or turning down the heat in winter may help us attack belly fat while we sleep.16 Colder temperatures subtly enhance the effectiveness of our stores of brown fat—fat keeps you warm by helping you burn through the fat stored
in your belly. Participants spent a few weeks sleeping in bedrooms with varying temperatures: a neutral 75 degrees, a cool 66 degrees, and
 a balmy 81 degrees. After four weeks of sleeping at 66 degrees, the subjects had almost doubled their volume of brown fat. (And yes, that means they lost belly fat.)