Sometimes it is hard to combat our sweet tooth, which is just longing for that one last sugary treat in the day. However, if you are looking to cut down on your sugar intake, or believe you should be eating less cake, there is a simple step that can prevent you from doing so. The key to stopping snacking is to just get into bed!

That’s right; a study found that giving yourself an extra 20 minutes of sleep could cut out the equivalent of half a slice of cake a day. According to researchers at King’s College London, sleep-deprived people who spend more time in bed will change to a healthier diet. They found that when people who slept less than seven hours a night were given an extra 21 minutes sleep, they cut back on their sugars by almost 10g, amounting to a third of their allowance.

With our collective lack of sleep becoming a worrying norm, this study tested 42 healthy people of normal weight who were sleep deprived – meaning they were getting five to seven hours of sleep a night. Half the respondents were given tips, such as avoiding caffeine, creating a relaxing routine, or not going to bed either too full or too hungry.

After being given these personalized tips, the results showed that 86 percent of the group managed to get, on average, an extra 55 minutes of time in bed. Meanwhile, half increased their sleep by 21 minutes and, after a month of sleeping better, they cut their sugar intake by an average of 9.6 grams a day. This is the equivalent of about half a chocolate bar, or around a third of the suggested daily allowance.

After these results were found, which are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the team suggested that those studied may have eaten less sugar because they had less time to snack when in bed for longer. They also suggested that their findings meant ‘increasing time in bed for an hour or so longer may lead to healthier food choices.’

Have you ever heard of this name before? You should take a trip to Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire during springtime to experience this amazing but weird sport.

It’s fun though! All you do therein is to run down a hill chasing a wheel of cheese that can hit a speed of close to 111km per hour. You would agree with me that running down alone is a lot of fun. A lot of injuries and stuff though. This sport has an Aussie as its present defending champion.

It is weird to think that there is a sport called shin-kicking. But welcome to a world full of strange realities, shin-kicking is a sport!

This game is not only strange, but it is also very dangerous and rough. We think you guessed what it involves already, kicking an opponent’s shin until he gives up, tires out, resigns or something else that amounts to conceding defeat. We honestly cannot imagine who would think of this sport!

Weirdness goes on and on; fireball soccer is simply a normal game of soccer made strange and weird by adding fire to the soccer ball. Oh, humans! You would never cease to amaze me in your unimaginable extremity.

A group of soccer players come together to play a soccer ball that is set on fire. This sport is found in Indonesia. This sport is brought about by training oneself to withstand fire through being pure in heart and deeds.

Toe wrestling is a weird sport that seems self-explanatory. It is a sport of long ago; dating back to the 1970s. Toe wrestling is a sport that involves combat and finesse.

Competitors fight to pin down each other’s toe. You know that in normal wrestling, what is pinned down is the arm, this is the weirdness that comes in. You do not think so often if a wrestling fight where the toe is the target.

This is a strange and difficult sport. First of all, you have to figure out how to hollow out a huge pumpkin which takes a lot of patience and a strong knife. After this, you get your pumpkin on the water and make sure it floats (this is not easy).

After getting the pumpkin in water, you now paddle on it to win a competition. The sport is not easy at all; the pumpkin’s heavy and pushing it takes a lot of energy and expertise. Weird!

This sport is very weird in the sense that it uses an animal for a human sport; wrestling. In this game, two tulu camels are pitched against one another in a wrestling fight.

If you are in the arena while this fight is taking place, that weird feeling overwhelms you. The camels fight until the other is injured and cannot fight anymore. A lot of persons have classified this sport as not only strange but violent as well. Some say it violates animal rights. This sport has its origin in Turkey, but it is also practiced in the Middle East and other parts of South Asia.

From the name alone, likely, you have not heard of this sport. “Sepak Takraw” is a sport that is not well known in the world but popular in south-east Asia.

This sport is weird, but it is superb alongside. “Sepak” stands for the kick in Malaysia and “Takraw” stands for the woven ball in the Thai language. This is what the game is all about; it is a 3-a-side kick volleyball game that looks very weird to watch. The chances are very low that you have heard of a volleyball sport that involves kicking.

This is a sport where bunnies race! For crying out loud, we’ve not just heard of this before; bunnies race and they are not just racing alone, they do with obstacles.

So, let us call this the “bunny hurdle.” This sport is very popular in Scandinavian countries. It is strange though but very interesting. This sport has judges and a cash prize, so, you might want to explore when next you visit a Scandinavian country.

A conker is the nut of the horse chestnut tree which is threaded onto a piece of string. You are wondering, “how is this a game, right?”

Conker smashing is a game in which the objective is to break the opponent’s cooler. It originated in the United Kingdom as a game of leisure. Now, it is being played in many countries of the world.

Another weird but popular sport in Bangladesh. This is the national sport of Bangladesh. It is a mixture of tag, bull rush, and strength. You run into the opposition half and then tag an opponent.

After this, you leg it back to your half without getting caught. You pray to God that you made it back. Very weird right, I know!

This is very strange I must say, Tuk Tuk polo is a sport that involves tricycles playing polo! True, it is polo but not with your regular horses or elephants, it’s with tricycles.

This sport is popular in Sri Lanka, but do not be surprised it gets popular over the years despite its weird nature. Back then, whoever thought there would be a game of polo with horses? So, do not be caught unaware.

Though many would argue that this should not be a sport, that it should be called a festival or carnival instead, it is a sport in most Asian countries due to the fun and razzmatazz that comes with it.

This sport involves a carnival-looking person dressed as a dragon jumping and dancing. It is a lot of weirdness, but something that would make you laugh out loud. This sport is cherished by Asians as it does a whole lot of good to lifting the low spirit.

There is no denying that ironing is a very mundane and boring activity. We wouldn’t usually associate it with games and having fun. But someone managed to take this ordinary chore and turn it into an actual sport!

In recent times, a man named Phil Shaw has made this sport interesting. He has developed it into an enjoyable extreme experience; it is ironing while sky-diving. That is very weird but fun.

This is a sport that combines hockey with swimming. It is also known as underwater hockey. Take note, the puck weighs three pounds so it can easily glide under the pool.

So, this sport simply involves players playing hockey in the water with swimming and hockey equipment. This sport is interesting but very strange. This is why it is yet to gain major popularity despite many years of establishment.

This weird sport is popular in Finland. This game involves mostly girls riding stick horses through a race circuit of hurdles and jumps. This is very similar to equestrian sports.

The difference is just that this is done by little girls. These girls see this sport as a major way to interact and relate to their horses and friends. Let us put it this way, it’s a kind of “communicating with my horse” sport. Still very weird!

This is a Dutch sport that oozes weird feelings. This sport just feels like watching pole vault but in a random river instead of an arena. This amazing sport involves competitors sprint along with a dock-like platform and launch themselves onto a giant pole in the middle of a canal.

They then thrust their bodies to the top, using their weight and momentum to angle the pole toward a bed of sand on the other side. The extremism is in the distance they jump; staggering distances up to 65 feet! Someone had once done 70 feet in the past which is the world record.

This is a weird Japanese sport. It is a pole toppling game where a pool of 75 players is swarmed around a pole trying to defend the unbidden flag.

At face value, this sport is not in any way interesting as you find it hard to pinpoint any fascinating thing about it. This sport is played in Japan on school sports days and induction of cadets into the National Defence Academy of Japan.

When we say a sport is odd and interesting at the same time, this sport fits the bill perfectly. Although it is an ancient sport, the ferret legging sport is still strange but very intriguing to watch today.

It is a sport that involves men tying their trouser legs at the ankle, dropping in a ferret, and then see how long they can stand it. Watching the endurance level of various competitors is intriguing. An amazingly weird sport though!

This sport is entirely strange from normal snorkeling. Ignore all those gelling you that there is nothing strange about it; the only similarity bog snorkeling shares with normal snorkeling are the equipment.

This sport is a 120-yard swimming event in a trench cut through peat or muddy marshland. You can only employ slippers to power your movement through the waters, no conventional swimming strokes.

This weird sport originated in Spain. This sport is a weird mixture of three sports; volleyball, soccer and gymnastics. You might even want to argue that it is no more a sport, it has turned to something of art or carnivals.

Volleyball, soccer, and gymnastics are brought together to form bossaball. One common thing about this sport is that it must be accompanied by music.

We’re laughing my whole jaws out right now, like what weirdness! Is sleeping meant to be a sport, but here you go, it is! This sport has to do with sleeping for a timed period.

You snooze, you win! It is not one that you just sleep off, you time your sleep to wake up at the set time before your competitor. Some tools are used in this sport to facilitate sleep, you might want to give this competition a try-out!

The activity of throwing an egg is not strange but making it a sport is what is strange. This sport entails egg-throwing without breaking to win such competition.

This game involves a set of twos; they throw the egg at each other until a competitor fails to catch the egg and it falls breaking to the ground. The throwing competition in England however, involves throwing eggs to long distances. The longest distance wins.

This is the national sport in Afghanistan, “buzkashi” means goat dragging. The weirdness starts popping up from the onset. How do you drag a goat?

Teams or individuals on horses race around a large field as wide as two standard football pitches vying for control of a headless goat. You can try to picture. It would be quite rough and dangerous; many would get injured or even killed. So weird and unnecessary if you ask us!

We have heard of a lot of racing events; you might have even witnessed one of such events. Have you ever heard of dust racing with a lawnmower, apart from the normal bikes, cars, and all?

So, you can see where the weird mess is steaming from, not from the sport, but the equipment. Lawnmowers hail from the United States where various riders ride lawnmowers on dust terrains.

What is involved in this sport would quickly turn you off? You would be like, “is this even rational and necessary?” Mud-pit belly-flopping was a fan favorite from the beginning.

Competitors never failed to capture the triumph of the human spirit by falling face-first in a pile of mud. This is not just necessary; it is not fun either. This is another definition of weirdness.

When you think of what would be involved, you ask yourself, “why would anyone even think of this?” The prospect of human racing with a horse is very scary and weird.

We all know that horses ate very fast animals, why would a human want to compete with them. This sport is popular in Wales and also practiced in New Zealand and Scotland. There have been records of men who beat a horse in a marathon though.

This sport is strange because polo is usually played using a horse, but here, we have a unicycle. It should not surprise you that the unicycle is quite expensive.

The horses used in playing polo are generally expensive and this is what has extended to the unicycle polo. You should already know what the game involves; riding on a unicycle to play, polo. Weird! Why do you have to change the normality?

This is just weird and strange! How do you think of playing golf on the streets?? The game involves playing golf on the streets as opposed to normal golf courts.

The game is the same as normal golf except 18 holes are played in a city environment such as an industrial site, school, or even the street. Players use standard golf clubs and hit tennis, squash balls or other types of non-destructive balls into targets. Real golf balls are used only when it’s safe.

The recreational sport involves getting in a transparent plastic orb and rolling down a hill. It also can be used on water and flat surfaces. When you think about the concept of this game, it oozes abnormality or strange feelings.

In 2001 though, zorbing became a word in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, defined as “a sport in which a participant is secured inside an inner capsule in a large, transparent ball which is then rolled along the ground or downhills.” So, for the lovers of zorbing, they do not care, it is in the dictionary.

How many kinds of races exist?? If we told you the answer, you’d not be able to fathom the long list. We have seen so many strange but excusable kinds of races, but this is not excusable. This is weird and strange.

The apple race involves different competitors racing apples to win a competition. This sport is popular on the island of Tasmania. This event, held each year, involves launching a floating apple from the bridge at Huonville and watching it race 300 meters down the picturesque Huon River.

If you like a bit of facial hair, then this may be the competition for you. Men with elaborate beards and mustaches come together every two years for the World Beard and Mustache Championships.

The competition involves men with lengthy, highly-styled facial hair. The first Championship was held in Höfen-Enz, Germany, in 1990. The next competition will be held in New Zealand.

The German unusual sport of beer crate running, known as Kastenlauf is popular in the German-speaking countries of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The race is between teams of two, who are required to carry a crate of beer throughout about 10km.

The crate of beer must be consumed before the team crosses the finish line. Our first thought was whether it would be better to drink all the beer early on in the race to save carrying the heavy crate the whole way or to carry it while sober and drink the beer when you near the finish line. We are sure many discussions have been had about this.

This is as weird as it comes. Bathtubbing is a kind of paddling you never thought existed at all. We are all used to the normal canoe paddling and all, but it just seems weirdness would not stop evolving.

Bathtubbing is a strange sport that involves paddling in a bathtub. You get into the bathtub, and paddle on water against other competitors. This is weird; it is a new invention in the sport of paddling.

This is entirely weird. You most likely never thought these Olympics existed. This is the game of Olympics for children between the ages of 2 and 4, who compete in various sports that usually take place in the normal Olympic games.

Kids compete in races, gymnastics, swimming, weightlifting and other sports. It amazes you to see this in reality, right?! But it seems we would keep having new weird sports pop up each day.

It is like we want animals and other pets to start doing what humans do! Because we do not understand who came up with this weird sport of surfing with a dog. Weirdness would continue to grow, it seems.

This sport simply involves dog surfing with the assistance of its owner to win a competition. The dog is trained to balance and position on the surfing board. Very weird, you say? We agree with you!

Is this meant to be a suicide mission or what? This sport of camel jumping involves three camels stationed horizontally for competitors to jump over. This sport is so strange because it is not even popular.

You have to go to Yemen and its deserts to see this sport being engaged in. This sport is very dangerous because competitors are prone to spinal injuries. This is due to the distance the three camels stationed together horizontally covers. People jump over this distance, but you do not expect to have zero-possibility of spinal injuries.

The name of this sport is just overwhelmingly strange and weird. Who races a cockroach? How do you even think of racing a cockroah?

This sport is found in Australia where two competitors bring their cockroaches to the race floor, the competitor with the faster cockroaches wins. Super weird! The origin of this sport dates back to when two men in Brisbane, Australia engaged in the first cockroach race. This must be due to the influence of some alcohol, we guess!

Here is another strange sport. Herein, a whole lot of competitors buy a duck, inscribe their names on them, and put them into a particular river.

The owner of the first duck to reach the finish line wins the game. When you think of the fact that people engage in this sport, it weirdly amazes you. One is like, “you should have let the ducks alone to enjoy.” The weirdest part comes from the fact that charities sponsor duck races! For crying out loud, there are a whole lot of other productive things to do. We guess the weirdness is enjoyed.

Cows race, you should know! Cows compete in a race where the first to reach the finish line wins. Take note though, these cows are not trained to race. This event is unpopular as the only place where cow racing takes place is in Australia during the Compass cup event. This event, though labeled a competition, is just a carnival of fun.

How does this sport go? 24 cows are chosen on the morning of the race for a heat event. Two heats comprising of 12 cows each is then engaged in by the vow riders. Six cows each from the heat are selected for the final race. The track on which the cow’s race is 60m long. This race is held on the 23rd of January; this has been in place since 1974.

Crawling races is a game involving babies; babies generally do very little walking, they crawl. So, in this sport, babies are put on a track to race while crawling. The first to crawl to the finish line wins.

Babies race across the floor, crawling on their hands and knees, enticed by their parents or grandparents at the other end of the track, waving toys, cookies, mobile phones, and whatever else they think could entice them to speed along the path.

Nathan’s Famous Hotdog Eating Contest is the strange contact held in Coney Island, New York on July 4th each year. The game involves eating the most number of hot dogs in 12 minutes.

The time was reduced to 10 minutes in 2008. In recent years, the competition has been won by Joey Chestnut from California. A women’s event was added in 2011. In 2015, Matt Stonie ended the 8-year winning streak of Joey Chestnut, eating 62 hot dogs to Joey’s 60. However, Chestnut has regained his title, winning it for the 11th time in 2018.

Another weirdo you’d say; the name of this sport alone oozes weirdness. It is even less popular than the other weird sports.

The evidence is in the fact that there is no sport governing body or committee for this sport, but competitions are still taking place. This game is played by two persons; they hit each other hard on the face till a winner emerges. Very strange!

Is this a sport? How do you come up with this as a sport? You should have let the chickens alone. From the name, this sport involves a fight between two chickens. You have to take note though, this is not just any fight, it is a boxing sport.

How do the competitors get two chickens to involve in a game of boxing? There are two competitors in this game, each competitor holds tight the wings of his chicken. The chickens then fight each other with the feet. You can now see why it is a boxing game and not an all-round fighting game; it is just the legs that do the fight, and not the whole body.

From that combination alone, strange but interesting thoughts pop up. Chess boxing sport is very rare, but it exists. It is a combination of the game of chess and boxing.

This game is composed of eleven “three-minute rounds” with the competitors changing from boxing to chess. This game involves the brain and physical strength. Though this weird sport is not popular around the world, it is well known in Russia, India and Germany.

From the name alone, you can feel weirdness all over, it is fun though. This game is similar to what the renowned Johnathan Thurston has been doing for many years, carrying his best mates to try to win a title.

This weird sport is very popular in Finland, where men carry their wives and race to win. We bet you can’t wait to play this sport.