Why we need our beauty sleep
by Lisa Young – Salon Director
Sleep! It really isn’t something that parents bribe us to do just so they can get some peace and quiet. There really are many benefits to having a good night’s sleep!
Sleep is an amazing thing. It helps us to heal and regenerate. We also know from research that sleep plays a significant role in our brain development.
We have to sleep because it is essential for maintaining normal levels of cognitive skills such as speech, memory and flexible thinking.
It is also nature’s most powerful beauty treatment and if you want to make the most of your beauty or grooming routine you need to ensure that you get your sleep!
Sleep enables your body to optimise its naturally healing and regeneration process.
This is essential for healthy skin. The average person needs seven to nine hours of sleep each night for a healthy mind and radiant skin.
During the day your skin:
- Provides protection from bacteria and viruses.
- Neutralises unstable molecules as an antioxidant (UV, chemical exposure, smoke, stress, unhealthy diets and pollution).
One reason why sunscreen and built in antioxidant technology is a must.
At night the skin switches to clean up and repair mode. During this time:
- The body uses sleep time for renewing and recharging, processing nutrients and detoxifying.
- New skin cells replace damaged cells and rejuvenation takes place.
- Cell regeneration doubles at night increasing collagen production.
If you miss your daily quota of Zzzz’s the effects on your body can be physical as well as visible leading to:
- An impaired immune system.
- Slow healing, breakouts, skin infections and cold sores.
- Dark circles and puffiness under the eyes.
- An impaired metabolism leading to weight gain.
- High blood pressure.
- Heart disease.
- Diabetes.
- Depression.
So what exactly happens when you are asleep ?
First Three Hours – the deepest sleep of the night
The body produces the most amount of human growth hormone. A hormone that is essential for skin and hair repair as well as being crucial for collagen production.
Did you know that overnight you can lose around 25 percent more water (dehydration) than during the day ? You can prevent moisture loss by applying products that add hydration such as products with hyaluronic acid.
Middle Two Hours – REM sleep begins
Your deep sleep shortens and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep begins. Melatonin, a hormone that is also a skin-protecting antioxidant, increases.
Last Three Hours
During the last three hours you are totally relaxed. You get the most REM sleep and the skin’s gets its deepest recovery.
If you want to help optimise this renewal process use specialised overnight products. These type of products are ones containing microencapsulated Retinol and designer peptides that work on repairing skin.
As skin is clean at night and not in protection mode it’s more readily able to absorb these super repairing ingredients.
The results from a good night’s sleep include:
- Good skin tone.
- Plump skin.
- Fresh skin.
- Hydrated and bright looking skin.
Our hot tips for beautiful skin
- Dehydrated skin produces fine lines and wrinkles so rinse with plenty of water throughout the day. Feed your skin extra hydration with a good night time moisturiser. Choose products containing hyaluronic acid as well as serum based products for that extra hydration boost.
- Look for anti-oxidant products that increase your skins protection from free radicals whilst you sleep.
- Dark circles and puffiness is caused by a build-up of fluid and toxins under your eyes. Reduce salt and alcohol in your diet.
- Don’t forget your eye cream. Look for products with caffeine and retinol and dab gently under the eyes with your ring fingers. Complete this with three circular movements around the eyes moving inwards towards your nose before completing gently pressing either side of the bridge of the nose to release via the lymph nodes.
Studio 8’s Top Tips for Some Quality Beauty Sleep
Here’s some helpful tips to get you on your way to rest and relaxation:
- Try to create as much darkness in your room as much as possible.
- Did you know that many of us reach for our phones if we wake in the night! Remove phones or lights next to the bed. Invest in a good old fashioned alarm clock.
- No caffeine after 4 pm.
- No sugar at least 2 hours before bed.
- Switch off from work. Going to the gym or yoga at the end of the day helps you switch from work.
- Soothe and relax muscles by unwinding in a nice hot bath with essential oils such as lavender, Chamomile, Sandalwood, Ylang ylang and Rose.
Make the most of your sleep with other beauty shortcuts.
- Hair, face, and body products are most effective overnight because they penetrate better when you’re asleep. Make the most of your sleep time and use the time to apply a few other beauty treatments.
- Hands and feet – generously apply hand cream and foot cream last thing at night to wake up to beautiful hands and feet. Use cotton gloves and gel socks for even deeper penetration of products.
- Wake up a bronzed Goddess – self tanning products are perfect for night time application. There’s little risk of splashing whilst you’re asleep and you can rinse when you shower in the morning for perfectly tanned skin. Try Sienna X’s award winning tanning products for a natural looking tan. If you would like a few tips on applying the different types of tanning products have a look at Sienna X on YouTube.
- Lips – Don’t forget lips need love and attention, so exfoliate and apply a lip balm treatment before you switch off the light.
Our favourite Dermalogica Recommended Products:
- Dermalogica Overnight Repair Serum – A supercharged peptide serum helps stimulate collagen production to help firm and renew resilience while potent Argan and Rose oils revitalize lacklustre skin and smooth away fine lines.
- Dermalogica Age Reversal Eye Complex – use the power of Retinol to reverse the signs of aging and photo aging.
- Dermalogica Multi active Toner – spritz before applying night time moisturiser to refresh and hydrate the skin whilst smoothing the surface.
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Dermalogica Overnight Retinol Repair.
Launch date UK October 2015.
Thought for the Day
” Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone. “
Anthony Burgess