Want to lose weight and get more sleep? Try the sleep diet…

Now, we know what you’re thinking – a diet that helps you lose weight AND get more sleep? What kind of witchcraft is this? Surely it must be some kind of gimmick.

The good news is that this is definitely not a gimmick. In fact, a sleep diet is the hip new way to get rid of those unwanted pounds and can be particularly beneficial, especially if “big bones” run in your family. Ahem.

The Irish Independent reports that sleeping for more than nine hours a night will not only have you waking up bright and full of energy the following morning, it will also help you to suppress any genetic factors within your body that could lead to weight gain.

In direct contrast, previous research on weight-loss and weight-gain has shown that getting too little sleep can actually make you pile on the pounds. In fact, there’s a direct link between poor sleep and obesity.

This new research, on how sleep can aid weight-loss, has revealed that there is a complex interaction between getting enough sleep and the genetic factors in your body that are linked to your weight.

Scientists made this interesting discovery after studying 1,088 pairs of identical and non-identical twins. Why twins, you ask? Well twin studies make it easier for researchers to see the impact of environmental and genetic influences on their tests.

The twin studies revealed that the body mass index (BMI) of long sleepers was a lot lower than the BMI of sleepers who didn’t get their full eight hours.

Conclusion? Get more sleep, lose more weight. If anything you’ll have a lot more energy to run around the place with and therefore, you’ll burn more calories. You’ll also stave off any late-night munchies because you’ll already be tucked up in bed, snoring away.

More sleep, smaller waistline? Sounds like a win-win situation to us…