How Your Skin Improves When You Get Good Sleep

It’s called beauty sleep for a reason: when you get enough sleep every night, your skin receives the much-needed healing it requires to look its best. That means, when you wake up in the morning, you look fresh-faced and well-rested instead of displaying a tired face to the world or desperately trying to get rid of under-eye puffiness that makes you look older.

An interesting study that was published in the Royal Society Open Science found that when people didn’t get enough sleep, they were seen as less approachable and less healthy by others.

So, if you want to put your best face forward and make a great impression, you need to get your beauty sleep every night.

Here are some of the biggest benefits your skin can gain from a good night’s sleep. 

Your Skin Produces Collagen 

Collagen is a protein structure your skin needs to look youthful and elastic. Without it, skin sags and becomes wrinkled. Collagen gets produced by your skin while you sleep. When you’re in dreamland, your body is busy producing growth hormones that build collagen, helping your skin look radiant and youthful when you’re awake.

Your Skin Is Hydrated From The Inside

You know those under-eye bags and circles you hate to see in the mirror after a night of inadequate sleep? They’re often produced because your body wasn’t able to hydrate your skin properly during the night due to a lack of sleep. During sleep, your body’s hydration rebalances itself, bringing more moisture to your skin and eliminating excess water – as well as toxins – from the skin.

Having moisturized skin from good sleep also helps to make your skin look younger, thanks to how supple, hydrated skin reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Your Skin Products Work More Effectively

Those skin cleansers, moisturizers, and anti-aging creams you rely on to look radiant will work their best when you give your skin the rest it deserves. Sleep enables your skin to repair damaged cells and achieve consistent blood flow every night. This means that it’s creating healthy skin completely naturally. Any products you apply to your skin after quality sleep will be able to work better because they have a healthy, glowing foundation on which to work. 

Products you apply to your skin before going to bed will also get better absorbed while you sleep, so keep rubbing on that rejuvenating night cream before hitting the sack. Interestingly, studies have found that between 11 pm and midnight is the magic hour when skin cell division happens. This enables the skin to get renewed and repaired, so make sure you’re in bed by then. Early to bed creates beautiful skin when you rise.

You Prevent Stressed-Out Skin 

Sleeping is a natural antidote to stress. You’ve probably experienced how it can help to calm you down and recharge your batteries during a stressful time. But it’s also good to prevent stress from negatively affecting your skin.

Cortisol, otherwise known as the stress hormone, increases during the day, and if you miss a good night’s sleep, you’re boosting its levels even more. This creates inflammation, and it can show up in various ways, such as puffiness, breakouts, as well as the worsening of skin problems you already have, such as rosacea or eczema.

There are many ways in which you can help yourself get a better night’s sleep that will benefit your skin by fighting off inflammation. Examples include doing gentle yoga before be and sleeping in a cool and darkroom that encourages restful sleep. By keeping your stress levels low, you can prevent inflammation from getting in the way of a beautiful complexion.

You might be eating well and using the right skincare products, but if you don’t get quality sleep, your skin won’t be as beautiful and healthy as it could be. By getting eight hours of sleep every night, you’ll keep your skin calm, hydrated, and youthful so that you can wake up to beautiful skin every day.