Why is beauty sleep the key to glowing skin?

What if I told you there was one thing that would MASSIVELY help to make your skin glowing, lose weight, your mood happy and appetite regulated? 

Your beauty detox diet plan isn't only about healthy eating. The Ultra Beauty blog shows you the lifestyle changes to incorporate.  Get Ultra Beautiful in no time!

You've probably guessed from the title of this blog, but that thing is sleep – a solid 7 – 9 hours of uninterrupted snooze time. Sleep is generally ignored, or seen as indulgent, but it is SO key to your ultra beauty, health and happiness that I’m dedicating a whole blog post to it today.

Sleep is a wonderful thing because it makes a huge difference to your beauty and mood, yet happens all by itself while you are dreaming. Some of the benefits are:

Turn back the clock on ageing!

Good sleep reduces inflammation, which is the number one enemy of the Ultra Beauty diet.  Not just for the wrinkles and sagginess it’ll add to your skin, but also for the heart disease, stroke, diabetes and arthritis that it has been linked to. Research indicates that people who get less sleep - six or fewer hours a night - have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins than those who get more.

A 2010 study found that C-reactive protein, which is associated with heart attack risk, was higher in people who got six or fewer hours of sleep a night.  The good news is that having three nights of proper snooze will reverse this.

Skip the surgery!  Get a midnight face lift

When you skimp on sleep, it shows on your face. Tired skin sags, bags, and loses its luster. Lack of sleep causes blood vessels to dilate, causing the look of dark circles. That can all start changing the next time you slip between the sheets.

Your skin goes into repair mode when you sleep, growing new cells and replacing older cells. Lots of different hormonal and metabolic changes happen in the body, and a lack of sleep can disrupt those processes.  However, you can change this tonight, with a visible difference showing just the next morning after a good night’s sleep - an important part of your beauty routine.

Think like a skinny - reduce your appetite and lose weight

If you’re like me, a bad night’s sleep will make you crave sugary treats, with the intensity of the Cookie Monster on the Atkins diet. There is actually a scientific reason behind this. Two hormones called leptin and ghrelin work as a balancing act to control feelings of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full. When you eat a large meal, your body produces leptin to tell your brain to stop desiring food.  However, when you’re tired, that hormone isn’t made in the same quantities, so you never feel satisfied.  This sets the stage for overeating, which leads to weight gain. 

In a Stanford University study, people who slept less than 8 hours had a higher percentage of body fat, with those people sleeping the fewest hours weighing the most!  It could also be because being fully rested gives you the most energy to lead an active lifestyle. Either way, sleep and a slim body go hand in hand.

Improve memory

Forgot what you did this morning?  During sleep you can strengthen memories or "practice" skills learned while you were awake, in a process called consolidation.  Good news for anyone studying for exams, learning a language or even improving their tennis swing.

Becoming a Sleeping Beauty

Are you getting enough?  Everyone is different; so one person might not be able to sleep longer than seven hours a night, with another needing a full nine.  Waking up tired is a sign you’re scrimping. I am writing from personal experience - my husband will certainly attest that if I don't get seven to eight hours of shut-eye, I wake up as my grumpy alter ego who is irritable, baggy-eyed, and ready to inhale a tray of Krispy Kremes. However, on the nights that I wake up after a good amount of quality snooze, my skin is brighter, I make nutritious, energising food choices and the world is generally a happier place.

Get your husband to tell a boring story - works every time

Jump to next post: essential potent nighttime beauty products

Some tips that will help you get enough of this beauty elixir are:

Not using your mobile phone, tablet or watching TV an hour before bedtime: A new study showed that the light from electronic devices hugely decreases the amount of melatonin in your body (the hormone that makes you sleepy), causing getting to sleep and staying asleep a problem. Teenagers are particularly affected, as they tend to be night owls anyway.  We all love playing computer games, reading online articles or flicking through Facebook photos in the evening, but the price for leading our fully wired lives is high: These diversions can keep us from both falling asleep and sleeping well. 

Just one hour looking at a computer screen is equivalent to one hour’s sitting in bright sunlight, because of the light emitted from the screen. This reduces the amount of melatonin your body makes, meaning you don’t feel like sleeping, and don’t enter the deepest and most restorative phase of sleep as quickly.

There’s a more sinister side to not making enough melatonin:  Suppression of this hormone by light at night has been implicated in increased risk for diabetes and obesity, as well as higher risk for more serious diseases, such as breast cancer, if it occurs for many consecutive years, such as in nightshift workers. I have a ‘no screen’ rule in the bedroom which means good old fashioned books and alarm clocks!  Oh and a blackout blind so that those early morning rays can’t get in…

Wind down an hour before your bedtime. Don't do work or anything mentally taxing that you'll get caught up in. Your body can’t help tensing up when you decide to look at that work report, or watch an action film.  As your brain revs up, its electrical activity increases and neurons start to race - the exact opposite of what should be happening before sleep.  Use this time to get chores out of the way, like ironing or washing up, or settle down with a good book. 

Fresh air can really help you to sleep deeply. Open your window a crack even in Winter and pile on the duvets to keep warm.  Weird, but it works.

Some individuals are particularly sensitive to caffeine, meaning a cup of green tea early in the day can cause insomnia at night.  If you’re having trouble dropping off, try ditching all caffeinated drinks and chocolate altogether.  As for coffee, that is the worst drink for sleeping, so should be first on your hitlist!

Drink enough alcohol and you’ll definitely fall asleep, but it won’t be restful or reparative. In fact you’re more likely to wake up a few hours later, or to toss and turn all night.  I’m not saying never have a drink, but try not to make it a nightly occurrence. 

Next blog: my favourite bedtime beauty products that give your skin an extra anti-ageing boost.