Every calorie matters when you’re watching your weight. Fat loss requires an energy deficit, meaning that you need to burn more calories than you take in.
What you may not know is that your body is using energy around the clock, not just when you’re jogging, walking, or doing house chores.
Brain activity, for example, accounts for about 20% of your resting metabolism. Digestion, breathing, and other bodily functions require energy, too. This brings up the question, how many calories do you burn sleeping?
The answer depends on several factors, including your age, weight, hormone levels, body composition, and more. Certain foods and activities can boost your metabolism for several hours, leading to more calories burned at night.
How Many Calories Do You Burn Sleeping?
When you’re asleep, your body is burning calories to sustain itself and keep you alive.
The brain, for instance, creates new connections between neurons and consolidates memories during sleep, explains Medical News Today.
At the same time, it suppresses nonessential information to make room for new memories, such as the things you learn during the day.
Your body also produces hormones, enzymes, and certain nutrients at night. Plus, it repairs damaged cells and tissues and builds new ones. The antibodies and cytokines (a class of proteins) released during sleep keep your immune system strong and fight infection.
These bodily functions require energy. Depending on body weight and other factors, the average person burns at least 38 calories per hour during sleep, according to Harvard Medical School.
The heavier you are, the higher your energy expenditure. This applies to all activities, from swimming and cycling to sleeping and reading.
- A 125-pound person, for example, burns about 38 calories per hour during sleep, reports Harvard Medical School.
- A 155-pound person burns approximately 44 calories per hour at night.
- A 185-pound person can burn 52 calories and up in one hour of sleep.
If, say, you weigh 155 pounds and get eight hours of sleep per night, you’ll burn around 300 calories while snoozing.
However, these numbers are not set in stone. Individual factors, such as your diet and body composition, affect metabolic function and energy expenditure.
This brings us to the next point…
Factors That Affect Your Energy Expenditure During Sleep
The number of calories burned in a day, including when you sleep, depends on several aspects.
Your body composition, or muscle-to-fat ratio, for example, has a direct impact on metabolic rate.
- Lean mass, or muscle tissues, accounts for about 20% of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), explains the University of New Mexico.
- Fat mass, on the other hand, accounts for only 5% of the calories burned throughout the day.
The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you’ll burn at rest.
Another factor to consider is your age. As you get older, your metabolism may slow down.
Piedmont Healthcare reports that our metabolic rate decreases by about 10% each decade after age 20. These changes are largely due to age-related muscle loss and hormonal fluctuations, such as those encountered during menopause.
Here are other factors that influence the number of calories burned in a day:
- Age and gender
- Genetics
- Activity level
- Sleep habits
- Thermic effect of food
- Occupation
- Body composition
- Overall health
- Gut health
- Hormonal fluctuations
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- Environmental factors, such as temperature
- Certain medications and health conditions
Some of these factors are out of your control. While you can’t turn back the clock or change your DNA, there are other things you can do to boost your metabolism.
Use these strategies to burn more calories during sleep:
#1. Get More Exercise
Physically active individuals tend to burn more calories at rest. Exercise can boost your metabolic rate, causing your body to burn more calories after training.
Strenuous activities, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), cause the largest increase in post-exercise resting energy expenditure. The so-called “afterburn effect” lasts anywhere between 24 and 39 hours, reports Sports Performance Bulletin.
The same source states that highly active people burn 5 to 19% more calories throughout the day compared to sedentary individuals. These effects are more pronounced in men than women.
Both aerobic exercise and strength training can improve your body’s ability to use energy. The latter is more effective because it builds lean mass.
So, if you want to burn more calories during sleep, start exercising and stick to it. Just make sure you schedule your workouts at least three hours before bedtime.
#2. Increase Your Protein Intake
Your body uses energy to digest and break down the food you eat. Certain foods, especially those rich in protein, can boost your metabolism for several hours.
The increase in metabolic rate following a meal is known as the thermic effect of food (TEF). According to Verywell Fit, high-protein meals may cause a 17% higher increase in TEF compared to high-carb or high-fat meals.
In one study, men who replaced carbs with either pork meat or soy protein experienced a 3% increase in metabolism over 24 hours.
Other studies suggest that high-protein intakes may help keep your metabolism up while on a diet.
What this means is that you may burn more calories during sleep by eating protein before bedtime. In the long run, a high-protein diet can speed up your metabolism and make it easier to lose weight.
Ideally, eat a light meal or snack for dinner so that it doesn’t affect your sleep. Here are some examples of high-protein bedtime snacks:
- Greek yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Roasted chickpeas
- Low-carb protein bars
- Almonds, walnuts, or pistachios
- Pumpkin seeds
- Chia seeds
#3. Turn Down the Heat
As mentioned earlier, your metabolic rate also depends on environmental factors. If you’re trying to burn more calories at night, you might want to turn down the heat.
For starters, set your thermostat to about 66 degrees Fahrenheit. This small change could help you burn 7% more calories during sleep and lower your risk of diabetes.
When you work or sleep in a cooler room, your body burns more energy to stay warm. This leads to an increase in caloric expenditure, making it easier to keep the pounds off.
Another option is to sleep in the nude, recommends Psychology Today.
This habit may increase calorie burning by keeping you cool at night. Plus, it stimulates the release of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes bonding and mental well-being.
#4. Don’t Skimp on Sleep
Sleeping more won’t necessarily boost your metabolism, but not getting enough sleep can slow it down.
Research suggests that sleep deprivation affects lipid metabolism, leading to a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. Simply put, your body will become less efficient at breaking down fat, which in turn may cause weight gain and other health issues.
Sleep deprivation can also interfere with appetite control and glucose metabolism. Over time, it may decrease your energy expenditure, reports a 2017 study published in Sleep Medicine Reviews.
If you have trouble sleeping, try to determine the cause of your problem. Consider changing your sleep position or replacing your old mattress. Turn off the TV, smartphone, and other devices before bedtime to reduce blue light exposure at night.
Our guide on how to sleep better might help, so go ahead and check it out. We’ll show you how to build a better bedtime routine, what to do before sleep, and more.
#5. Burn More Calories During Sleep
Still wondering how many calories do you burn sleeping? You can always use an online calculator to get a rough estimate.
However, note that many calorie calculators don’t take into account your age, activity level, body composition, and other factors that influence metabolism.
Our advice is to focus on improving your bedtime routine and sleep habits. Implement the strategies listed above, and the results will follow. Small things, such as eating a high-protein snack before bedtime, can increase your calorie burn and even lead to better sleep.
If you’re a night owl, check out our guide on how to wake up early. We’ll share some of the best things you can do to reset your sleep schedule and still feel fresh the next day.
FAQ
The exact number of calories you burn while sleeping depends on your age and weight. Generally speaking, sleepers burn between 40 – 80 calories an hour. So in an 8-hour window, you can expect to burn between 320 – 640 calories per night.
During a 30-minute nap, you can expect to burn between 20 – 40 calories. For comparison, a 30-minute walk would burn between 100 – 200 calories.
The answer is probably not. Burning over 500 calories per night would be a lot for some sleepers, and 2000 calories is 4 times that amount. It’s just not feasible when your body is in a relaxed, sleeping state. Sleepers with an increased basal metabolic rate have the highest number of calories burned during sleep.
Citations
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- Calories burned in 30 minutes of leisure and routine activities. Harvard Health. (2021, March 8). Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-for-people-of-three-different-weights
- Gholipour, B. (2017, May 1). Sleep shrinks the brain’s synapses to make room for new learning. Scientific American. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sleep-shrinks-the-brain-rsquo-s-synapses-to-make-room-for-new-learning/
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