If there’s one thing the fitness industry preys on, it’s the desperation and lack of knowledge in people looking to lose body fat — and the evil shills at T-Nation are no exception.
A few days ago they posted an article on the ridiculous idea to boost your metabolic rate while sleeping to burn a tiny little bit of extra energy. Let’s see what nonsense they spewed out this time.
“’Burn fat while you sleep!’ That’s been the promise of a dozen sketchy infomercial products. The weird thing? We already do. We burn calories all night long.”
No, we do not. Calories are a measurement of generated heat from burning something in an isolated chamber. It has nothing to do with human physiology. We use energy in chemical reactions, we do not “burn” it.
With that said, our bodies use energy for all these processes 24/7 or we would simply be dead. During the day, as we are awake and are in a more active physiological state, we use more energy, especially since we also process food and use our muscles to move around. During the night, many processes are put on maintenance while detoxification and cellular repair increases. Still the energy expenditure is much less when we sleep, as the body is in a relaxed state and we do not move much more than changing sleeping positions.
As in the differences in our basal metabolic rate (BMR,) and resting metabolic rate (RMR,) as in simply keeping us alive, it is about 10 to 20 % lower during sleep as many processes are slowed down.
“You already know about BMR or basal metabolic rate. That’s the energy (calories) your body uses to keep basic functions like breathing, heartbeats, and cell maintenance going when you’re awake but just sitting around. But not many people think about SMR or sleeping metabolic rate – the number of calories you burn while in dreamland.”
Energy is not calories as calories are a measurement of heat production within physics, which has nothing to do with physiology or biochemistry. As for BMR and SMR, that is pretty much correct, although simplified. But it will do or the article would be several pages long.
“SMR is a subset of BMR. You don’t burn as many calories while sleeping, but you burn more than you might think – only 10 to 20% fewer than when awake. An average 150-pound person might burn around 60-75 calories per hour during sleep or 480-600 calories over an 8-hour night.”
You do not burn anything at all. There is no combustion, no light or heat as seen in a combustion chamber where they burn food to measure the heat and call it “calories.”
Instead, you use “nutrient molecules” broken down from nutrients you’ve consumed to produce energy for your cells. These nutrients include fat/lipids, glucose, and proteins, each of which provide energy through the chemical bonds they contain. When these molecules are broken down, the energy released is captured and transformed into a form that can be used by cells in chemical reactions to perform various functions, such as building complex molecules, transporting materials, and powering cellular movements.
But yes, our basal metabolic rate is only slightly lower at night as some processes are downplayed while others, as in restoration of the body, are upregulated. And that is why it is so important to go to sleep in a fasted state and not to interfere with sleep and let the body remain in a calm relaxed state. Otherwise detoxification and healing will be limited, which will accelerate the accumulation of toxins, cellular damage, and contribute to most modern diseases and premature aging.
“The more calories you burn during sleep, the easier it is to avoid fat gain, get lean, or stay ripped. Night after night, even a small boost in SMR adds up fast.”
No, that is retarded. Sleep is for detoxification, healing and recovery. Avoiding fat gain is done through your diet, as in avoiding carbohydrates, seed oils or simply anything plant-based and processed. And getting lean is easiest done by consuming our species-appropriate natural human diet to fully nourish our body, and then if needed, simply do a little bit of fasting each week.
How to Optimize SMR
“1. Lift Weights
This one is easy for us. The more muscle you have, the higher your BMR and SMR. Even when you’re asleep, muscle still needs energy for maintenance and repair, especially if you’re a lifter. The more muscle you’ve built, the more your body must spend to keep it going overnight.”
Yes, having some additional muscle mass is a good thing, as it is protective against injuries, helps with posture and balance, improves bone density, increases performance and your ability to do work and protect your family, and it’s also good if you happen to face starvation (as muscle serves as a principal reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis in vital tissues and organs.)
However, having a lot of muscle mass is metabolically taxing for the body and all the training and food required to acquire and maintain that muscle mass will accelerate your aging and severely tax your organs, thus reducing your lifespan and increasing the likelihood of any “modern diseases.”
“What kind of numbers are we talking about? Roughly, for every 10 pounds of iron-built muscle you’ve gained, you’ll burn 50-60 additional calories overnight. Per hour, it’s a small uptick, like 2-3 calories, but it adds up. Add 20 pounds of new muscle tissue, and you’ll burn 100-120 extra calories per night. Add that to your higher waking BMR, and you’re an energy-churning machine.”
Imbeciles. The higher the BMR, the faster you age. This is logical and common sense, although seldom discussed within any scientific field — as there are so many other factors affecting the aging process. In all simplicity, the higher the BMR, the more chemical reactions are taking place, and if it’s also due to additional muscle mass, as in additional cells, the more that can go wrong and the more chemical residues from these reactions. This will, over time, add to the stress of the body and of every cell. Cells have a finite capacity for both functionality, maintenance and renewal, and if you speed this up, as in jacking up your BMR, you will arrive at the end sooner, as in a shorter life-span. Again, that is common sense.
So, if you are into a more muscular body, you better make sure to reduce all other factors of aging such as toxicity and damage from elevated blood glucose (carbohydrates,) glycation and oxidation (carbohydrates,) toxic oxidized fats (all plant-based fats/oils,) toxic compounds (all plant-based edibles,) and other environmental toxins. Or simply adopt our species-appropriate and natural human diet of animal-based foods, and you will live longer than most people even with a very muscular physique.
“And don’t forget muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is active overnight. MPS is the process where your body builds new proteins to repair and grow muscle tissue. So, if you hit the weights regularly, the energy-hungry MPS process further fires up SMR.”
It’s always active. Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is a continuous process that involves the building of new muscle proteins. It is not “on” or “off,” but its rate can increase or decrease based on various factors such as exercise and nutrition. Exercise, particularly resistance training, significantly boosts MPS, with the peak occurring around 24 hours post-exercise and lasting up to 72 hours. Protein ingestion also plays a crucial role in stimulating MPS.
And yes, additional tissue repair (elevated MPS) from exercise such as weight lifting will require more energy at rest and during sleep.
“2. Eat Protein Before Bed
If you eat anything before bed, the digestion process bumps SMR. But protein is king.”
Imbeciles. Do not do this, not ever! Digestion interferes with your body’s natural detoxification and healing that normally is accelerated during sleep, but only if you’re in a fasted state as digestion takes priority and shuts everything else down. This is very, very bad for health and especially longevity. And to add to this, digestion will blunt your natural release of growth hormone that takes place during the first phase of your sleep, but only if you’re asleep between 10.00 p.m. and 2.00 a.m. So, make sure to always go to bed before 9.00 p.m. and absolutely not later than 10.00 p.m. and to have your last meal at least 4 to 6 hours before bed, at around 4.00 p.m.
“3. Other SMR Boosters
- Part of SMR involves body temperature regulation. Sleeping in a cooler room makes your body work harder to stay warm, burning a few extra calories, maybe 30-50 more per night. In studies, room temp was 60-67 °F.”
Yes, as long as it is comfortable to sleep, which is the most important factor. You want quality sleep. Forget about the retarded idea of boosting your “SMR” if it interferes with sleep quality.
- “Dehydration slows metabolism, even at rest. Drinking enough water during the day keeps your cells efficient overnight. No direct SMR studies here, but resting metabolism drops 2-3% when dehydrated, and sleep is no exception.”
Hydration is mainly a question about electrolytes and a healthy metabolism, as we can produce our own metabolic water. If you follow our natural human diet, this will never be an issue and you do not need to drink much water at all. Not unless you overcook your food and have to use additional salt, then some extra water might be warranted as both fluids and electrolytes are lost from the meat.
- “Deep, uninterrupted sleep ramps up growth hormone release, which drives fat metabolism and repair. Fragmented sleep cuts this short, lowering SMR. A Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine study found poor sleepers burned 10-20% less overnight than solid sleepers.”
Yes, and still you imbeciles recommended a protein meal before bed, which shows that you only saw a few snippets of information here and there, but you have no idea of how it actually works. No understanding of simple biology, physiology or biochemistry at all. Please just stop writing articles and go back to washing toilets or picking garbage in the streets. At least that way you’ll contribute a little bit to humanity and our world.
After this, T-Nation recommended their supplements for improved sleep, which is comical at best. Again, forget about boosting your SMR. Sleep is for restoration, nothing else. Any body transformation issues are best dealt with during the day through your diet and some exercise.
If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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