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3 Major Reasons You Need To Prioritize Your Beauty Sleep
Sleep is a pillar of health—a vital sign, the gateway to cellular regeneration, the foundation of mental health, and so much more. Health and sleep are deeply and intrinsically linked: The body cannot function properly without proper rest, and without it the risk of chronic conditions (from mental to physical) skyrocket.
It's why, at mindbodygreen, we spend so much time researching, writing about, and educating folks on proper sleep hygiene. Including, in the beauty section.
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Within the context of beauty, sleep (or lack thereof) is often associated with dark circles, puffy face, or dullness. But it's so much deeper than that. Sleep is the skin's most important time for barrier repair, cell turnover, collagen formation, and cleaning up oxidative damage.
Sleep's role in skin repair: A quick recap
There are many things happening in the body during rest that make it so important for skin health and appearance:
- The repair process is kicked off thanks to the hormone melatonin, which is naturally produced in the body before and during rest. "If you're not resting, you're not generating that melatonin and your skin isn't repairing itself," says board-certified dermatologist Keira Barr, M.D., on an episode of Clean Beauty School.
- In addition, during sleep, your skin experiences a surge in HGH, also known as human growth hormone. The release of HGH helps rebuild body tissues1 and spurs increased cell production. When you lose sleep, your skin misses out on this important process, which is why your complexion might appear sallow and dull after a night of poor rest.
- Research shows that the body builds and maintains the collagen layer2 during sleep. Considering collagen is the skin's primary structural component, this aspect is critical for skin firmness.
And conversely, when we lose sleep, major issues occur—including the three below.
Collagen loss
Collagen loss starts happening at some point in our 20s and continues at a rate of about 1% decline every year thereafter. Essentially, the body's ability to produce collagen can no longer keep up with the amount that's lost.
That's why it's very important to set your body up for success by limiting habits that can lead to further decline, such as poor sleep.
Sleep loss and deprivation can induce oxidative stress and lower your antioxidant defenses, making the body (and skin) vulnerable to damage. In addition, losing sleep increases cortisol (the infamous stress hormone), which infamously breaks down collagen.
Research has also found that our bodies rebuild collagen during the REM cycle. For example, this study found that sleep was a pivotal time for collagen production3 and repair.
So, without sleep, the body isn't as able to regenerate that collagen layer—leading to more loss than what's already happening naturally.
2x the amount of wrinkles
Given all the damage that is associated with lack of sleep, it makes sense that wrinkles are to follow suit. But one study actually put it to the test and confirmed that chronic poor-quality sleepers experienced significantly more wrinkles and signs of aging than their counterparts.
The study details:
At the end of the study, the researchers found statistically significant differences in the skin quality of good versus poor sleepers.
For example, when they looked at the skin aging scoring system results, poor-quality sleepers had two times the amount of fine lines, discoloration, and sagging.
They also found that poor-quality sleepers took longer to recover from UV burns, implying the body isn't as effective at reducing inflammation.
In the barrier disruption test, poor sleepers saw a 30% reduction in skin repair ability and increased transepidermal water loss.
Increased skin irritation & overall inflammation
Because the skin isn't able to repair the skin barrier thoroughly during interrupted or poor sleep, the barrier becomes vulnerable.
A strong skin barrier is critical for skin health, as it's what protects the skin from pollution, UV damage, environmental stressors, and more. Without it, we're more susceptible to extrinsic aging4, which can account for up to 90% of visible signs of premature aging.
And this isn't just skin deep—research has demonstrated a link between skin dysfunction and internal inflammation. In the study, researchers found that using a barrier repair moisturizer reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine biomarkers in the blood, highlighting the importance of the skin's protective role in our overall health: Namely, that poor barrier function is linked to inflammation that can trigger other health concerns.
How to deal with sleep-related skin issues: 5 quick tips
The most important thing you can do is to get high-quality sleep, but we know that's not always easy at every stage of your life. So here are some actionable steps to help you to achieve beauty sleep:
- Create an environment that's better suited for rest: No phones or screens, dim lighting, the right mattress and pillows, aromatherapy, and a cool temperature. Get more tips here.
- Use skin care products to help buffer the effects of bad sleep: A thick night cream to help strengthen and soothe the barrier and vitamin C serums to support collagen production make an excellent combo. For your face cream, look for ingredients like ceramides, peptides, and omega-3 fatty acids to cushion the skin barrier and lock in moisture.
- Invest in a high-quality sleep aid supplement to lean on during phases of life when sleep isn't coming easy naturally.
- Silk and satin pillowcases not only make for a more comfortable sleep experience, but they're great for skin too: They are hypoallergenic, antimicrobial5, moisture-wicking, and breathable. Rather than cotton or linen fabrics—which are porous and, therefore, rougher—silk and satin provide way less friction, so your skin and hair will glide across the surface sans tugging, which can combat sleep wrinkles.
- Take collagen peptide supplements before rest to provide the body with the building blocks (amino acids) for collagen synthesis.
The takeaway
Of all the lifestyle habits that influence the skin, sleep is arguably the most important. Without it, folks experience a wide range of skin concerns, from collagen loss and wrinkles to increased sensitivity. Read more about the sleep beauty connection here.
5 Sources
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/026921558700100313?journalCode=crea
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-019-0441-z?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PBOK_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100064639&CJEVENT=d3e4d2c81e9311ef812e01630a82b82c
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-019-0441-z
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583890/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29435708
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