Beauty Sleep
Could Sleep be Your Natural Beauty Secret?
No beauty product or treatment offers as many transformative benefits as optimal sleep. From revitalizing cellular processes to promoting emotional healing and increasing mental clarity, sleep facilitates even the most intangible processes that foster beauty in its purest form.
To understand more about the powerful relationship between sleep and beauty, here a collection of beauty-related benefits from getting enough quality sleep, varying from improved appearance to enhanced attractiveness, from healthier skin to - even, improved hair growth.
#1 Beauty in Perceived Appearance
Research suggests that sleep quality significantly influences our appearance. Why this happens, is because during sleep the body undergoes vital repair and rejuvenation processes, including skin repair and hormone regulation, which contribute to a refreshed and vibrant appearance. Conversely, insufficient, or poor-quality sleep can result in visible signs of fatigue, such as dark circles, puffy eyes, and dull skin.
#2 Natural Skin Beauty - Structure
One of the health issues we wish to avoid is disruption of collagen production. Collagen is a fibrous protein, that gives the skin structure and firmness. Research indicates that optimal sleep quality facilitates processes that support optimal functioning of the collagen producing cells, thereby helping in maintaining healthy skin thickness and structure.
#3 Natural Skin Beauty - Elasticity
Providing the skin its ability to stretch and then return to its original shape and position, elastin is one of the most essential structure-forming proteins that hold the human body together. This protein is crucial for skin in maintaining the elasticity. Research indicates that insufficient or poor-quality sleep hinder elastin production, not only causing the skin to lose elasticity.
#4 Natural Skin Beauty - Avoiding Wrinkles
Changes in the skin are part of normal ageing. However, the rate of change varies greatly depending on lifestyle factors and exposure to environmental stressors. Research indicates that optimal sleep habits can play a significant role in slowing down this process. During sleep the body can fully facilitate important repair and regeneration processes. Lack of sleep disrupts these processes, leading to paler skin tone and the development of wrinkles and fine lines.
#5 Inner 'Behavioral' Beauty
Sleep profoundly impacts emotional and psychological wellbeing. Studies have shown that optimal sleep facilitates brain’s ability to selectively consolidate positive emotions while suppressing negative ones. This phenomenon not only promotes psychological well-being but also enhances social interactions by fostering a more positive attitude.
#6 Beautiful Hair
Sleep facilitates proper functioning of the hair follicle cells. One of the health issues we want to avoid is disruptions of hair renewal. The cells that are responsible for hair growth are contained within a hair follicle, which are tunnel-shaped structures in the outer layer of the skin. Based on research, stress from lack of sleep can force hair follicles to stop producing new hair strands and cause reduced hair volume.
Optimal Sleep Habits
#1 Sleep Duration
Health authorities recommend that adults get about 8 hours of good quality sleep. Sleeping less than 7 hours per night already reduces the rejuvenating effects of sleep. Therefore, extending sleep duration by just one hour can make a critical difference.
However, excessive sleep can also pose risks. Spending over 9 hours in bed nightly can lead to heart-related issues. Hence, about 8 hours is considered the optimal duration for adults. If this seems insufficient, taking a nap later in the day is preferable to oversleeping.
Note that extreme tiredness might indicate troubled health which needs professional attention.
#2 Sleep Quality
From the body's perspective, optimal sleep quality refers to absence of negative neurological stress. In other words, when the nervous system is calm the body-brain system can restfully facilitate all the necessary repair and healing. To read more about optimal sleep quality, click here.
A Method to Get Optimal Sleep
A sleep solution you can apply instantly.
To fall asleep easily, use a couple of minutes to calm your body and brain by doing sleep-inducing movements, the way I show in The Moving into Sleep Method.
Thanks for reading!
Wishing you the best of sleep!
Oliver
Related research:
Insomnia and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(17)30134-4/fulltext
Insomnia and the risk of incident heart failure: a population study
academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article-abstract/35/21/1382/582739
