Does sleep make you look younger? The answer is YES!
It is well-proven that the skin benefits of sleep are some of the most powerful ones for a younger-looking face. And there is no cream or serum in the world that can achieve what a good night’s sleep can.
Getting your beauty sleep is, therefore, one of the simplest and cheapest actions you can do to get smoother, firmer, and healthier skin. When you sleep is when your skin gets a chance to recover and rejuvenate. Just as the rest of the body recovers from stress, so does the largest organ of your entire body.
Quality sleep allows your skin to repair and prevent accumulated damage from stress. Without enough sleep, you’ll instead get high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which has the dreaded side effect of breaking down collagen and elastin.
And since these are the proteins that give your skin structure and elasticity, you can imagine how important sleep is in order to keep the skin smooth and firm. With too much cortisol circulating in your body you can also experience a reduction of hyaluronic acid in your skin.
What that means is that your skin will feel more dry and limp. With proper sleep, you will reduce the cortisol and have more hydrated and plumped skin from within.
Here are some actions you can take today to improve your sleep:
Tip #1 Do Not Eat After About 6 p.m.
The first step to getting a good night’s sleep is to have a light, early dinner and not eat any more after that. I try not eat after about
6 p.m.; 7 p.m. works better for others. By not eating after 6 p.m. we are not only limiting the extra, and often unnecessary, calories we consume before bed, but we also are allowing our body to go to bed empty so that it can burn fat while we sleep.
When we eat before bed our body wants to use that food for immediate energy use. The problem is that we are not going to be using any energy in our sleep. The excess food that can’t be processed because we are not exerting energy is then stored—causing us to gain weight.
Tip #2 Go to Bed on an Empty Stomach
If you find yourself starving before bedtime you might want to re- evaluate what you are eating throughout the day. Are you eating every 3 hours during the day? Are you eating enough? If you still feel hungry after a meal it is probably your body telling you that you did not receive the right amount of nutrients during your meal. Make sure you are eating vegetables, lean proteins, and a healthful fat during dinner to leave you feeling full and satisfied.
The overall rule about eating before bed is to stop eating 2 hours before bed to feel lighter, get a better nights sleep, have more energy in the morning, and increase weight loss.
Tip #3 Do Not Eat Sugars or Carbs Before Bed
Eating the wrong foods before bed can also us feeling bloated, too full, hot, and uncomfortable. This can affect the way we sleep. It can have a negative impact on our sleep quality and leave us feeling tired and sluggish the whole next day.
Bonus Tips
Screen time: Avoid watching TV or staring at your computer or phone light for too long at night. The lights emitted from these screens trick your brain into thinking it is still daytime and make it harder for you to fall asleep.
Darkness: Sleep in as dark as a room as you can. Try to black out any lights in your room and any outside light that could come in. Even the littlest amount of light can affect your production of melatonin and serotonin.
Temperature: Keep the temperature in your room cooler. Try not to go higher than 70 degrees F. It is said that because your body’s temperature drops while you sleep, a cooler room mimics your body’s temperature making it more conducive to sleep.
Bath time: Try taking a hot bath before bed. When you take a bath your core body temperature rises and then dramatically drops once you get out. This helps to tell your body that it is time to go to sleep.