Sleep your way to glowing skin
If only it were that easy, hey? Finding time to prioritise your nightly snoozing can be difficult in our everyday, busy lives and it’s not as though you get yourself an early night and suddenly find that your skin looks ten times better than the day before.
We get it, really, we do. But, we’re also here to tell you that it actually really is that easy when it comes to your skin. Beauty sleep really is a thing! So, if you can find the time to make sure you are getting enough of the forty winks every night, then we promise you that your skin will reward you.
When you don’t get enough sleep, the stress hormone cortisol rears its ugly head and releases itself into your body causing inflammation and flare-ups of skin complaints such as psoriasis and acne. Dark circles also appear because the blood vessels dilate when they haven’t had enough sleep and your skin hasn’t had enough opportunity to drain out the toxins.
You’ll also find that a lack of sleep can cause the moisture and pH levels in your skin to go a little awry, so this is why you’ll be thinking your skin looks a little dull when you’ve had too many late nights.
So, what can be done about it? Let’s take a little look at just how sleep can pave you a pathway to glowing skin.
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Sleep actively calms the skin down - while we are taking our beauty sleep, the cortisol levels in our body reduce meaning, as we mentioned before, they are less likely to cause any inflammation or flare-ups of inflammatory skin complaints. It’s this inflammation that often causes that all too well-known puffiness around the eyes, so the more you sleep, the less bags you’ll have.
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Generally, while you sleep, your skin is protected from outside damage - unless you’re falling asleep on sun beds for the entire evening, while you’re tucked up safely in your bed, your skin is protected from pollution, changes in surrounding temperature, and is free of make-up. This means that sleeping is a prime time for your skin to take a break from surrounding damage and helps it to recover for a period every 12 or so hours.
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Sleep allows your cells to renew - renewal is a big part of the beauty sleep regime, and every hour of sleep you get helps your cells have a chance to replenish and repair. During sleep, the cells in your skin divide themselves and go through their own cleansing process.
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Your products are likely to be more effective at night - during the day, the products that we put on our faces are often broken down by UV rays and free radicals, and pollution can cut through them. At night, many products will work much better because they have the time and space to really absorb into the skin. Anti-aging products that contain ingredients such as retinol are a good example of this - they work really well as overnight miracle workers!
- Sleeping at least 7-9 hours a night helps the collagen to produce - you’ll find that by hitting the optimum amount of sleep every night your body will release the human growth hormone needed for the skin to produce collagen. This will lead to firmer more glowing skin, healthy nails and glossy hair.
Okay, so that all sounds pretty clever, right, and you’re now all even more excited about jumping into bed tonight and having an excuse to prioritise your beauty sleep? But, it’s not always as simple as that and many people (due to high stress jobs, life and hectic schedules) struggle to switch off at night. What we don’t want to do is further add to your stress by making you feel worried you’re not getting enough sleep and that you’ll be destined to dull, dry and puffy skin forever more.
So let’s look at some ways you can maximise your beauty sleep.
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Put down the electronics - make a pact with yourself that, if possible, once 9pm rolls round, you’ll aim to put down your phone and, even better, switch off the TV. The stimulation from the light and sounds of electronic items interfere with our ability to wind down and fall asleep, so the longer you give yourself away from them before getting into bed, the better.
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Pay attention to what you eat - and don’t go to bed hungry or absolutely stuffed. Definitely don’t have caffeine just before you go to bed. If you can, try and lay off the caffeinated liquids post 3pm. Maybe opt for something like a calming chamomile tea instead.
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Speaking of chamomile - our Calming Body Oil contains the relaxing ingredient, as well as sweet orange oil which alleviates anxiety, anger and depression, and calms the mind. Look to use a product such as this that both helps the skin topically, but also releases aromas to help you wind down.
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Create a ritual - sometimes creating a simple wind-down ritual can work a treat to help our body and mind know that it’s time to switch off. Why not create a relaxing and fun one that you can use, light a candle and allow the scents to send you off to slumber.
- Apply your beauty products at least 20 minutes before bed - this will give them time to fully absorb and mean that your body and face will take the main benefits from them instead of your pillow.
Permission to jump into bed early tonight…