Does Not Sleeping Make You Lose Weight?

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The discussion centers around the misconception that sleep deprivation can lead to weight loss. Participants share anecdotes, including one individual who stayed awake for 100 hours and faced serious health issues, highlighting the dangers of extreme sleep deprivation. Another contributor mentions a roommate who lost weight primarily by sleeping more and eating less, suggesting that weight loss can occur when caloric intake is significantly reduced, rather than due to lack of sleep itself. The conversation emphasizes that while the body may burn some calories while awake, the overall health risks of sleep deprivation outweigh any potential weight loss benefits. Additionally, it is noted that sleeping burns slightly fewer calories than watching TV, and engaging in sedentary activities during wakefulness does not promote weight loss. The thread concludes with a humorous take on the absurdity of weight loss trends, advocating for real physical activity over sedentary behaviors.
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I have heard many times that lack of sleep(as in not sleeping at all for a long time) cause a person to lose weight no matter what the person is eating(I highly doubt this).
Anyone was dumb enough to actually try it?
just wondering if it's true.
 
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I know a girl who actually was dumb enough to do this, stayed awake for 100 hours.
She went to the hospital after that, serious problems, never knew if she actually lost any weight.
 
most likely not, especially if you are doing sedentary actions.

sleeping actually burns more calories than watching tv. unless you are also anorexic, it won't get you anywhere, and it is probably bad for your overall health. you die of sleep loss faster than starvation
 
Yeah I know, I remember that at the 4th day she was admitted in a hospital for liver or kidney problem I don't remember, crazy things people do to lose weight!
 
actually one of my roomates lost 25 lbs. from just sleeping. i think it was just because of the fact that instead of eating, he would just sleep. since he has no job or other responsibilities he would get to sleep for about 12-15 hrs. per day so basically he would just eat 1 meal a day. he did that for about 1-2 months and lost all that weight.
 
gravenewworld said:
actually one of my roomates lost 25 lbs. from just sleeping. i think it was just because of the fact that instead of eating, he would just sleep. since he has no job or other responsibilities he would get to sleep for about 12-15 hrs. per day so basically he would just eat 1 meal a day. he did that for about 1-2 months and lost all that weight.

wow. now i know what I'm doing with my summer
 
Pointing something here, The idea behind lack of sleep(as people like to think) that when when you are long since slept, the body burn a lot energy just to be able to stay awake and do normal functions, but still not convinced that it's actually useful.
actually one of my roomates lost 25 lbs. from just sleeping. i think it was just because of the fact that instead of eating, he would just sleep. since he has no job or other responsibilities he would get to sleep for about 12-15 hrs. per day so basically he would just eat 1 meal a day. he did that for about 1-2 months and lost all that weight.
Sweet, I love sleeping and I love not doing anything, But I don't need to lose weight.
 
beware though. it is much easier to lose 25 pounds if you are 50 lbs overweight, than losing 10lbs if you are just 10 lbs overweight.
 
ziad1985 said:
Pointing something here, The idea behind lack of sleep(as people like to think) that when when you are long since slept, the body burn a lot energy just to be able to stay awake and do normal functions, but still not convinced that it's actually useful.

Sweet, I love sleeping and I love not doing anything, But I don't need to lose weight.

it depends on what you are doing during those waking hours. you can either do some physically demanding activities which would burn calories and put you into further fatigue and cause more health problems, or you can sit around and be sedentary because you are too sleep deprived to do anything else that's physically demanding.

either way you aren't getting any bang for your buck and its hurting your health, so sleep deprivation is a lose-lose situtation
 
  • #10
Sleeping does cause a drop in your metabolic rate, and therefore you would be burning less energy while you sleep. However, if you just sit around doing nothing while you're awake anyway, then it wouldn't make enough difference to notice.
 
  • #11
Ki Man said:
it depends on what you are doing during those waking hours. you can either do some physically demanding activities which would burn calories and put you into further fatigue and cause more health problems, or you can sit around and be sedentary because you are too sleep deprived to do anything else that's physically demanding.

either way you aren't getting any bang for your buck and its hurting your health, so sleep deprivation is a lose-lose situtation

I wonder what they will come up with next, standing on one foot while holding your left ear with your right hand for 3 hours in a row will make you lose weight..
 
  • #12
ziad1985 said:
I wonder what they will come up with next, standing on one foot while holding your left ear with your right hand for 3 hours in a row will make you lose weight..

Actually, the next big thing is instead of playing tennis on your Wii, you can...

...go play REAL tennis at the tennis court and LOSE weight!
 
  • #13
http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/activity/activity.html"

it said i would burn 65 calories for sleeping an hour, while 72 for watching an hour of tv. do you really want to harm your health for those 7 calories?

also, i read in a newspaper that sleep deprivation and irregular sleep paterns are more likely to give you sleep paralysis, as well as other problems.

edit: turns out reading for an hour burns about 25-30 calories MORE than what you would get from watching tv. turn off the tube for a few hours each week and get out a good book and those calories will add up. lose weight through higher learning
 
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  • #14
I read a quote once that said the body can do without sleep or food but not both. I've found this to be true. If I am up for 20 hours i can't stop eating, and if I am resticting food, my sleep will double.
 
  • #15
JasonRox said:
Actually, the next big thing is instead of playing tennis on your Wii, you can...

...go play REAL tennis at the tennis court and LOSE weight!
Exercising... in... the... real world??!?

You could be onto something there... :biggrin:
 
  • #16
J77 said:
Exercising... in... the... real world??!?

It can't be done. People were already suspicious of the 'physically demanding video game' set up, they'll never accept the upgrade from virtual to actual matter! :biggrin:
 
  • #17
Ki Man said:
they'll never accept the upgrade from virtual to actual matter!

Graphics are not that cool in the real world , they are better with DX10!
 

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