What’s the first thing anyone says to you when you’ve had a lack of sleep? “You LOOK awful.” or “Rough night?” Your eyes are baggy and the skin is sallow, dry and dull. Why?
It’s called “beauty rest” for a reason. When we sleep we repair. A seven hour sleep can generate 500 or more DNA repairs. Restorative sleep not only refers to repairing your mind and mood but refers to all of the tissues and organs of your body, the largest of which is… your skin.
Chronic sleep deprivation is even more of a skin disaster than having an occasional restless night. Without regular restorative, reparative and rejuvenating sleep, the skin doesn’t undo the oxidative damage of the day, doesn’t hydrate properly and doesn’t produce youthful collagen. Mottling of the skin can develop, wrinkles begin, inflamm-aging goes unchecked.
Lack of sleep leads to the three "D" of skin damage: Dull - Dry - Dark.
Dryness happens from lack of nocturnal hydration and lack of skin cooling. Dullness occurs when there is no radiance from hydration or oxidative repair, And darkness famously develops under the eyes.
Lack of sleep can lead to an imbalance of three hormones that depend on sleep and are essential for skin health. Cortisol, melatonin and Growth Hormone (somatotropin) all are affected by sleep or the lack thereof. All three play a role in skin repair and health. Lack of sleep means lack of effective hormones which means no lack of skin aging.
In addition to a poor hormone balance, lack of sleep can lead to poor protein production and for skin that means lack of collagen. Collagen, of course, is a vital protein in maintaining skin firmness and youthfulness. Losing collagen means losing the all important elasticity that collagen brings.
Prior to going to bed, wash your face with a gentle cleanser and remove makeup.
Apply a facial serum, then a night cream and let it absorb for 15 minutes before heading to bed and rubbing it all off on your pillow or Teddy bear.
So face it, you sleep well and your skin will love you for it.