Does Quality Sleep Improve Weight Loss?

In this blog post we will look at the relationship between sleep and weight loss. More specifically we will try and determine if getting more quality sleep can actually help you lose weight. First off, I think it is pretty common knowledge that getting good quality sleep is important to overall health. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adults ages 18-60 get at least 7 hours of quality sleep per night to maintain proper health. There really is no debate that a good nigh sleep can help with mood, injury recovery, energy level, etc. But just because getting a quality night’s sleep is healthy does not mean that it will help you lose weight.

So let’s turn to a recently published article studying the relationship between sleep and weight. The report, from 2022, showed that a low calorie diet actually improved the length and quality of sleep. This makes sense. If you are taking in fewer calories your body will likely want to slow down activity and get more rest. This is a great additional benefit of low calorie dieting but does not prove that sleep actually contributes to weight loss.

The study went on to demonstrate that a lack of proper sleep can interfere with maintain weight after a significant loss. So we can answer the question of “Does quality sleep improve weight loss?” with “not really”. Sleeping better does not seem to contribute directly to losing weight but does seem to help those who have lost weight to maintain longer.