You may think that you burn a negligible number of calories while you sleep, but your basic metabolic processes continue and burn fats and sugar as you breathe and your blood circulates. It's no surprise you are hungry in the morning when a night of sleep compares in calorie burn to a half-hour of moderately vigorous exercise.
Considerations
Age, weight, metabolism, sex and your sleeping environment affect the number of calories burned. In a cooler environment, your body burns more calories to keep warm.
Effects
A 150 lb. person burns about 63 calories an hour while sleeping, according to FitDay, an online diet and weight-loss site. Fitness.gov places the calorie burn higher, at 90 calories an hour. Harvard Health Publications places its estimates lower, at 46 calories an hour for someone who weighs 150 lbs., 38 per hour for someone who weighs 125 lbs. and 56 per hour for someone who weights 185 lbs.
Comparison
Sleeping compares to other sedentary activities such as lying down, sitting quietly, watching TV or card playing. You'll burn twice as many calories sitting at a computer and 10 times as many doing vigorous exercise.
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