August 30, 2007 That’s Why They Call it “Beauty Sleep”
There is this wild idea that beautiful people, having loads of free time on their hands, are able to get in that extra hour or two of sleep known to the rest of us as beauty sleep. Guess what? It’s true. While asleep, our skin goes through some dramatic changes and rejuvenation steps that are improved by extending sleep time. First of all, while we sleep, our skin has little if any exposure to it’s biggest enemies: the sun, and chemicals such as makeup and pollutants like smoke and other airborn toxins. This is key since during sleep, blood flow increases to the skin causing the temperature in the skin to rise.
The higher blood flow carries more nutrients to the skin to help repair itself. While sleeping, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) levels peak which increases the uptake of both amino acids and nutrients that contribute greatly to the formation of new cells. Also during sleep, the slightly elevated skin temperature and blood flow opens pores allowing easier penetration by any externally applied cream or skin conditioner. Night-time is the right-time to apply skin treatments for other reasons as well. Not only are they more readily absorbed by the skin for reasons already mentioned, but many skin care products can increase the skin’s sensitivity to light and other environmental risks. All the products you hear about that lead to healthy skin by increasing collagen production naturally such as antioxidants, vitamins C and E, beta carotene and others are much more beneficial and utilized more efficiently by the skin if applied or taken prior to sleeping.
Beauty sleep really does occur and it would be in our best interest to try and increase the amount and quality of sleep we get. This is especially important for women since they normally spend more time and effort maintaining their skin’s appearance. The simple steps that will turn your hours sleeping into real beauty sleep are as follows:
- Get plenty of sleep, your body and skin recover and renew themselves during sleep and it shouldn’t be cut short.
- Avoid those activities several hours before bedtime that disrupt sleep patterns such as alcohol and caffeine.
- Make sure the skin is cleansed of all makeup.
- Apply a chemical-free moisturizer.
- Try to sleep with the head slightly elevated.
That’s why it’s called Beauty Sleep, because without it…