Beauty Sleep: Vital to a Youthful Look and Better Social Life

When it comes to maintaining a youthful look, beauty sleep may just be your best routine.  Getting enough shut-eye helps your body recharge and your skin regenerate, which has a lot of benefits for your appearance.

When you take “beauty rest,” your body heals, restores and eliminates toxins from the skin. If you don’t get at least seven to nine quality hours every night, your body’s ability to do these vital skin functions is compromised.

According to research, beauty sleep is a real thing and if you’re getting fewer than six hours of sleep a day, you may appear less attractive to others. The sleep experiment shows that a couple of bad nights can make a person develop dark-circled “panda” eyes with puffy lids and look “significantly” more ugly to others who may, therefore, avoid socializing with the person. The experiment also showed that strangers viewed people with tired faces as less healthy and approachable.

Getting a great night’s sleep also has a number of health benefits, ranging from higher energy levels,, to better heart health and even weight loss. But unfortunately, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of U.S. adults routinely sleep fewer than six hours a night, and the situation is the same or worse in the UK.

Whether you have trouble falling asleep, find yourself waking up throughout the night, or just don’t wake up feeling well-rested, there are things you can do. Try these five tricks to improve your sleep habits so you wake up ready to hit the ground running.

Develop a Bedtime Routine

Being consistent with your sleep schedule and what you do to get ready for bed can have a huge effect on your ability to fall asleep quickly. When you develop a nighttime routine leading up to sleep, you send your body signals that it’s time for bed.

Practices calming activities before bed, such as gratitude journaling, meditation, or a relaxing bath. Winding down after a busy day calms the mind and gets your body ready for sleep.

Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day will also make a huge difference. Obviously, things happen like social engagements or travel, but sticking to a routine as much as possible helps to establish a rhythm for your body.

Your bedtime routine can be as simple as brushing your teeth, reading for 20 minutes, and going to sleep at 10pm. If there are more things you find relaxing that you want to work into your schedule, feel free. Try a few different behaviours to determine what works best for you and helps your body get ready for sleep.

 

No Screen Time One Hour Before Bed

Are your pre-bedtime “relaxation” activities scrolling on your phone or watching TV? Try switching to a no-tech solution. The blue light from our phones can affect the production of melatonin, which is the hormone what affects our sleeping cycle. Screen usage before bed reduces melatonin, which makes it harder to fall and stay asleep.

No to mention the light exposure promotes wakefulness and stimulates your brain, so it has trouble winding down. At least thirty minutes before bed, and ideally an hour, avoid gadgets of all types.

If you have trouble with this, set your alarm earlier in the day, and plug your phone in on the other side of the room. This way, once you start getting ready for bed, you won’t be able to roll over and check your phone one last time. If you read books on a tablet, try switching to real books, or an e-reader that doesn’t light up. And if you have a TV in your room, consider moving it to a different space so you aren’t tempted.

Create a Good Sleep Space

Try setting the mood in your bedroom for an optimal relaxation space. This starts with the temperature in your bedroom, which The National Sleep Foundation recommends should be somewhere 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Use breathable bedding and wear lightweight clothing so you don’t get overheated at night.

You can also promote sleep with a darker room. Invest in blackout curtains, and block any small lights in your room, including alarm clocks or any electronics. Light tells your brain that it’s time to wake up, so keep it as dark as possible.

As you get ready for bed, start turning down the lights to cue your body that it’s time for bed. Try installing dimmers on your overhead lights, or use diffused lamps and candles for light.

If you live on a noisy street, you might want to consider a white noise machine. This can block any loud sounds from your neighbors or the street, so your brain doesn’t get distracted.

Change your Diet

Your dietary habits, including caffeine and alcohol intake, might be affecting your sleep more than you think.

First, eating late at night can negatively impact both sleep quality and the natural release of growth hormone and melatonin. Stop eating a few hours before bed so your body has time to digest.

Caffeine from coffee, tea, chocolate, and soda can have a major effect on our sleep patterns. Drinking too much caffeine stimulate the central nervous system, which interferes with deep sleep, cause insomnia, and make you wake up throughout the night.

Reduce caffeine intake to 1-2 cups a day at the maximum, and don’t consume any after 2pm. Try switching from coffee to a tea with lower levels of caffeine to decrease your usage.

Alcohol also disrupts your sleep. Though it might help you fall asleep at first, as soon as it wears off, it will wake you up, and make it difficult to fall back to sleep. Limit alcohol intake to just two nights a week or less, and always drink plenty of water to combat dehydration.

Invest in a Quality Mattress

You could make all these changes to improve your sleep, but if you’re using an old mattress, it won’t make much difference. Mattresses only last 10-15 years, and our body’s needs can change even more quickly.

For optimal comfort, natural latex mattress. The dense latex provides the perfect mix of comfort and support for your spine, so there’s no tossing and turning. If you frequently wake up with back pain, a latex mattress can eliminate that discomfort. It’s also breathable for natural temperature regulation, and is antimicrobial. If you suffer from allergies, the best latex mattresses eliminate dust mites and bacteria for better indoor air quality.

A quality latex mattress will last for many years for a great night’s sleep. The investment is worth it when you consider the benefits to getting your eight hours every night.

Stop settling for poor quality sleep and put these tips into action. Even the smallest changes can make a big impact, so you can enjoy more productive days, better health, and more energy to tackle whatever life brings you. Enjoy your journey to better sleep!