If you are trying to lose weight, you may want to focus more on getting a good night’s sleep and less on what you are eating.
People who have regular sleep patterns find it easier to shift unwanted weight, new research suggests.
In fact, 74 percent of people who get a good night’s sleep said they found weight loss easier.
And 82 percent said they found it easier to stick to a healthy eating regime.
In order to get the most out of your diet you should aim to get anywhere between seven and a half and eight hours sleep a night, the researchers said.
The best time to hit the hay is 10:10 p.m. – this allows for 20 minutes to nod off and 90 minutes of the most restful rapid eye movement (REM) sleep before midnight.
The results are from a new survey of 1,000 people by Forza Supplements.
Experts monitored the sleep patterns of dieters to find the common factors which contributed to weight gain.
People who slept for less than seven hours a night were found to have the most chaotic eating patterns, were more prone to diet lapses and were more likely to exceed their weekly limits for alcohol consumption.
Two-thirds of this group also admitted to snacking in between meals.
And more than half said they had difficultly sticking to a diet while 54 percent said they regularly drank more than they should.
On the other end of the spectrum only 17 percent of people who slept for a decent amount of time each night admitted to regularly snacking.
And 72 percent said they found they could stick to a diet plan while only 13 percent said they regularly exceeded their recommended weekly alcohol limit.
A third of poor sleepers said they were more likely to put on weight because they were awake for longer and had more time to eat.
Our sleep patterns have changed radically over the last hundred years.
Before the First World War, the average person was sleeping for more than nine hours a night – largely because there were fewer nighttime distractions like pubs.
We now sleep for an average of seven and a half hours, with women sleeping an average of 20 minutes longer than men.
Lee Smith, managing director of Forza Supplements, said: “They call it beauty sleep for a very good reason – eight hours a night really does help us to lose weight and live more healthily.
“This new research shows that the key to successful dieting is discipline and routine – you need to adopt good habits and stick with them.
“If you are sleeping erratically and getting up in the night, chances are you are a boozer who is also visiting the fridge while successful dieters are upstairs in bed fast asleep.”