"Sleeping well and using the right overnight products does wonders for your skin."
The term ‘beauty sleep’ gets thrown around all the time, but turns out, it’s legit. You already know that sleep impacts your entire body, and, as your largest organ, your skin is equally affected. “When your body is at rest it’s able to undergo processes that it otherwise can’t do while you’re awake. One of those things is skin restoration,” explains Jeff Rosevear, founding scientist and Head of Product Development for Skinsei. When you’re the least active (i.e. asleep), your skin is the most active, hard at work refreshing and detoxifying itself, he adds.
So, what are the benefits of beauty sleep for skin?
Lack of sleep can quickly start to show up on your face in more ways than one. Think back to a time when you went a few nights without some good quality ZZZs—your skin likely started to look dull and uneven, a few pimples may have popped up, you might have noticed more fine lines. “When you’re not sleeping, all of the skin’s systems start to break down and it loses the ability to repair itself,” says Rosevear. The other piece of this puzzle? Cortisol, AKA the stress hormone, which triggers a cascade of damaging inflammation that can ultimately cause everything from wrinkles to breakouts. We release cortisol when we’re stressed (which, shocker, is why stress is also bad for your skin), but cortisol levels are naturally at their lowest while we sleep. So, less sleep equals more cortisol equals generally worse-looking skin. Obviously, getting adequate amounts of sleep is step one, but you can also give your skin an extra boost while you snooze by using the right overnight products. “This is when your skin will be able to best utilize them and reap their benefits”, says Rosevear.
Getting ready for bed
At Skinsei we take into consideration different aspects of your sleeping habits before recommending the best products for your skin: how many hours of rest you are getting, how you feel waking up in the morning, your caffeine intake during the day and even how much time you spend with digital devices. All these factors have an impact on your skin health and consequently, on the products you should be using. Here is a simple breakdown of a basic before-bed skin care routine: First, wash your face to get rid of the day’s gunk and grime; then reach for a serum, the most concentrated product in your skin care arsenal. Finish with a moisturizer or an overnight face mask, to both seal in the serum and add back hydration, since the water in your skin does naturally evaporate while you’re sleeping.
So how many hours is considered 'beauty sleep'?
It may be easier said than done - we like a party as much as the next girl - but as we've heard, quality sleep will help your skin regenerate faster. We recommend regularly getting at least 6 hours sleep at night - ideally getting between 7 & 9 hours a night will reap benefits.
Sweet dreams!
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