How Important Is Beauty Sleep?
A small new study now suggests that your best beauty trick is good old fashioned sleep! Beauty Sleep Research showed what you've probably seen in the mirror after a rough night: sleep-deprived people look more, worn-out, with redder, more swollen eyes, darker under-eye circles, more wrinkles and droopier eyelids and mouths than their well-rested selves. People also looked sadder after a night of insomnia than after a normal sleep. The sadness was related to looking fatigued, researchers explained. It seems that faces contain a lot of information on which humans base their interactions with each other, how fatigued a person appears may affect how others behave toward them. This is relevant not only for private social interactions, but also official ones such as with health care professionals and in public safety.
To conduct their research, a team from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm recruited 10 subjects, who were photographed on two separate occasions: after eight hours of normal sleep and after 31 hours of sleep deprivation. The photographs were taken in the laboratory at 2:30 pm on both occasions. Forty other study participants rated the 20 facial photographs with respect to various facial cues, fatigue, and sadness. In a separate study announced earlier this year, University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio found that poor sleepers showed "increased signs of skin aging and slower recovery from a variety of environmental stressors.
If you struggle with getting quality sleep, the following tips might help your slumber: Stick to a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Eat well, and avoid caffeine in the evenings or overeating before bedtime. Also try sleep accessories, such as a white noise machine or ear plugs, to block out distractions. If you get overheated, try cooling bedding and wicking sleepwear to include cool sheets, cool pillows , cooling mattress topper and moisture wicking pajamas. Exercise during the day, which can help sleep, and try to clear your mind from clutter by doing some calming yoga or writing in a journal.