BEAUTY
There must be a million skincare products that promise you the results of a good night's sleep because who doesn’t love to look refreshed and well rested like they just slept for 8 hours?
Glowing clear skin is most definitely contributed to by healthy sleep, with the body doing its physical repair roughly between the hours of 10pm - 2am. Not being asleep at these times or disrupted sleep will cause cortisol in the body to elevate and negatively affect this regenerative process.
Did you know that getting a good night's sleep actually starts in the morning? Viewing morning sunlight (even when it's cloudy) this triggers a healthy level of cortisol into your system which tells your body to wake up and help you focus throughout the day. But it also starts a timer for the onset of melatonin in the evening, which, you guessed it, is what gives us a good night's sleep. Melatonin widens your blood vessels, directing more blood to the skin which in turn brings more nutrients. You can boost this by including some gentle facial massage in your evening wind down. And if that wasn’t great already, melatonin also reduces inflammation and acts as an antioxidant, repairing some of the damage from UV exposure and pollution.
The skin is the largest organ in your body and acts as a barrier to the outside world and protector from a variety of threats, sun damage, bacteria and germs amongst others. When we sleep, any damaged skin is repaired with the process of increased blood flow to the skin and the removal of waste products. Collagen production is also stimulated when we sleep along with a spike in growth hormone - both key in skin repair.
Studies show that sleep deprived people appear less healthy and less attractive so the more time you spend asleep and in a good quality sleep, the more time you give your skin to rejuvenate. From these studies it is reported that facial features from a lack of sleep show visibly drooping eyelids, dark circles under the eyes, more wrinkles, and fine lines, and drooping corners of the mouth. This really shows what happens to our skin if it misses out on the repairing processes that happen when we are sleeping.
So, as we can conclude, sleep is not only essential to our health, but also for our skin health too. But for many of us, the allure of one more episode, one more cocktail or late nights spent working mean that we aren’t getting what we need.
If you want to make your sleep a priority, start with winding down an hour before bed, turn the lights lower, spray a lavender based pillow spray, try meditation or read a book. Set your sleep time to be consistent and get into a routine, this will help you to relax and fall asleep. Enjoy your new beauty sleep routine and of course your glowing skin!