Beauty Sleep:  Everything you Need to Know

You might have often heard your mother asking you to get some ‘beauty sleep’ right before a wedding or an event. The term beauty sleep goes back to our grandparents’ old times and offers ample skin and body healing effects. How does beauty sleep work? When we sleep, our body’s stress hormone, namely ‘Cortisol’ lessens, simultaneously raising the sleep hormone, namely, ‘Melatonin.’ This whole mechanism gives our bodies a comprehensive repair process. Need an explanation with no-frills? Beauty sleep or nighttime sleep allows our skin to restore all the goodness ripped during the hectic daytime schedule. 

Interested in knowing how to get lustrous hair, glowy skin, and a healthy body? Keep on reading everything about the benefits of beauty sleep. 

What Is Beauty Sleep?

Excited much? Let us start by understanding what beauty sleep is. When we slip into deep sleep mode, our body starts repairing itself by producing more growth hormones. The boost in growth hormones leads to the multiplication of new cells, eventually rebuilding all the damage done to the skin during the day. 

How Many Hours are Necessary For Beauty Sleep? 

Sleeping for about seven to nine hours of undisturbed sleep is the need of the hour for every adult. People getting less than 6 hours of sleep are devoid of a healthy appearance leading to specific health issues. You don’t have to push yourself to achieve 9 hours of sleep. Start slow, and increase the amount by as low as half an hour. Just within 2 to 3 weeks, you will not only surprise yourself with a perfect 7 to 9 hours of sleeping schedule but also witness that glow on your face. 

How Sleep Affects Your Skin?

Skin’s health and look are significantly influenced by the amount of sleep you get. Here are some ways to know how sleep affects your skin:

Your body enters a condition of rest and repair while you sleep, which includes skin healing and regeneration. Cellular renewal and repair processes, including those of skin cells, are accelerated at this period. Your skin can heal itself from daily damage brought on by environmental factors like stress, pollution, and sun exposure when you get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can thwart this repair procedure, leaving the skin looking dull and worn out.

1. Production of Collagen

Collagen is a protein that gives the skin structural support, keeping it elastic and firm. Collagen production rises when you sleep, assisting in skin structure repair and reinforcement.

2. Blood Circulation and Flow

Your skin receives more oxygen and vital nutrients as you sleep, supporting its health. Your skin will appear more youthful and luminous if your blood circulation is good. Lack of sleep can cause blood flow to diminish, which can result in dark under-eye bags, an uneven skin tone, and a dull complexion.

The skin serves as a barrier to protect against external irritants and moisture loss. Lack of sleep can weaken the skin’s protective layer, leaving it more vulnerable to irritation from the environment and increased dryness and sensitivity. Eczema and acne may both be caused by a compromised skin barrier.

3. Acne and Inflammation

Lack of sleep can lead to systemic inflammation in the body, which can aggravate skin problems like acne. Acne outbreaks can be exacerbated by increased inflammation because it can cause clogged pores and an overproduction of sebum (skin oil).

4. Dark Circles and Puffiness Under the Eyes

Lack of sleep can cause the blood vessels under the eyes to enlarge, resulting in puffiness and dark circles. Lack of sleep also contributes to fluid retention, which makes the skin around the eyes look puffy and bloated.

Prioritising good sleep is crucial for maintaining healthy skin. Here are some extra tips to increase your beauty sleep:

• Create a sleep-friendly environment
• Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night
• Maintain a regular sleep routine
• Adopt appropriate sleep hygiene practices.
• Healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet
• Do frequent exercise, and stress management

Effects of Lack of Beauty Sleep

Has it ever happened that you wake from a disrupted sleep in the middle of the night and notice your pale face in the mirror? Sleep is our body’s approach to restoring, and this leads to healthy skin. Unfortunately, beauty sleep can affect our skin in way too many ways. Read it now. 

Unappealing Appearance 

Not getting enough beauty sleep will result in a tired and pale appearance, according to a study shown. Photos were circulated among participants who rated them based on their appearance. The results stated that the participants were not much interested in socialising with people who were sleep deprived, or appeared pale and tired. This means that beauty sleep is paramount for your health and your beautiful face needs it too.

Ageing 

You need to indulge in beauty sleep as it will prevent ageing. How? A study has shown that people who have undergone chronic sleep disruptions or were sleep deprived resulted in aggravated intrinsic ageing. The ageing process involves fine lines, reduction in skin elasticity, and imbalanced pigmentation. 

Low Self-Esteem 

Self-esteem is one of the essential factors that drive a person’s confidence. Imagine lacking self-esteem in your workplace or university, you will undoubtedly feel distanced from your fellows. In the same aforementioned study, Case Western University states that people suffering deprivation of beauty sleep additionally experience low self-esteem because of their flawed appearance. 

Skin Issues

Not getting ample beauty sleep leads to stress, and that further leads to impaired collagen quality and breakouts. 

Benefits Of Beauty Sleep

Now that you know the importance of beauty sleep, let us learn the benefits of beauty sleep that you raise your excitement.  

Fewer Wrinkles

Your skin tends to appear tired despite engaging in a perfect morning and nighttime skincare routine. The reason might be very simple; insufficient sleep. When you sleep, the blood flow in the body rises. In this stage, the skin starts rebuilding itself and producing collagen. During this repair process, the skin tends to restrain sagging, wrinkles, and ageing. Therefore, the greater collagen production, the less you would wrinkle.  

De-Puffed Eyes

We often notice puffy eyes after waking up, and if you are a woman, chances are high you would start concealing it with a concealer. But why not try the natural way of limiting puffy eyes? First, ask yourself if you are getting a proper amount of sleep each night. Inadequate sleep leads to swollen eyes and dark circles. 

Easier Weight Loss

Studies show that restricted sleep leads to greater levels of ‘Ghrelin’, also known as the ‘hunger hormone.’ This hormone urges the appetite, promotes fat storage, and pushes you to consume more. If you are someone desperately trying to lose weight and spending endless nights worrying about it, then you might not be successful in losing weight at all. Sleep significantly affects your metabolism, and poor sleep leads to trouble in weight loss.

Healthier Skin

It’s time to give a break to disrupted and poor sleep as it directly affects your skin negatively. The repairing function starts when we get enough undisrupted sleep, and throughout the time, sleep heals the skin damage done during the daylight. 

Fewer Breakouts

Breakouts on the face can be heartbreaking, from hormonal acne to stress pimples; your face can become an epicentre. In addition, poor sleep leads to a boost in stress hormones, leading to poor hormonal balance, eventually resulting in breakouts. 

Happier Mood

When your sleep is not peaceful, you ought to wake up groggy, tired, and unhappy. Leading the day becomes challenging, and every task feels gigantic. 

Increased Self-Esteem

When you are not looking good, you tend not to feel good about yourself; this leads to low self-esteem. On the other hand, self-esteem is essential in dealing with different adversities of life; therefore, get the right amount of beauty sleep. 

How to Get More Beauty Sleep

The last and one very crucial section is paving the path for achieving more beauty sleep. 

Create a relaxing bedtime routine

A relaxing bedtime routine involves lighting candles, playing good music, reading a book, and relishing the time before you get that beauty sleep. A comfortable bedtime routine calms the mind and eliminates negativity before sleeping, thus helping the person sleep well. 

Wash your face before bed

Washing your face before bed leads to cleansing away all the impurities, makeup, and every trivial dust that you encounter during the day. Since our skin indulges in the repairing process the whole night, engaging in nighttime skincare is one of the best ways to let the products do the magic for those 7 – 8 hours of sleep. 

Clean sheets once a week

Your bedsheets attract dust mites, bed bugs, sweat, and whatnot. This might lead to dust mite allergy making you cough, sneeze, and have nasal congestion. Clean them along with your pillowcases at least once a week, and you will enjoy the feeling of sleeping on a crisp sheet. 

Eat hydrating foods

Hydrating foods like veggies, and fruits like watermelon, melon, cherries, strawberries, and cucumber, are some that help you stay hydrated throughout the night. However, chugging in litres of water might lead to midnight runs to the bathroom, disrupting beauty sleep.  

Skip salty snacks

Salty snacks like pizza, burgers, cheese, and processed foods, are not good bedtime snacks as they might lead to under-eye bags and inflammation. 

Keep up with skincare

Never forget your nighttime skincare routine that involves removing makeup, cleansing, toning, moisturising, using eye cream, and so on. It will repair your skin, and boost the healing process. 

Create a zen sleep environment

A cosy mattress, mild lighting or no lighting (as per your preference), balanced temperature, and no bright lights will lead to a zen sleep environment. If you wish for a mild light, red light might help you with better sleep. 

Rethink that nightcap

Limit alcohol consumption at least 4 to 5 hours before bedtime. Instead of alcohol, consume decaf tea or a glass of warm milk since it contains tryptophan and melatonin to help you sleep. 

Conclusion

Mastering beauty sleep takes time as many of us have haphazard lifestyles with improper work schedules, meals, workout times, and, most importantly, sleep schedules. But, with slow and consistent results, it will hardly take 2 to 3 weeks. Therefore, bring on that face glow and a healthy lifestyle with 7 to 9 hours of beauty sleep.

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