How a Bad Night's Sleep Ruins Your Skin

Poor sleep majorly impacts every aspect of body, everything from mental health to your physical appearance.

Sleep deprivation can result in issues for your beauty routine, potentially making you self-conscious and stressed out about your appearance.

Keep reading for a list of skin issues that are caused by sleepless nights and how you can fix them.

Wrinkles

According to research, lack of sleep can cause wrinkles to start forming, making you to look older than your actual age. When you have insufficient sleep, you body releases higher levels of a stress hormone called cortisol. This hormone breaks down the skin's collagen, a protein that keeps the skin looking young.

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Dark Under-Eye Circles

Not only will less sleep cause wrinkles to form, it can also cause dark circles, bags under your eyes, and dark spots. You see, when we sleep (especially during non-REM sleep), human growth hormone (HGH) is released into our bodies. HGH helps to repair damaged skin and dark spots as well as those pesky bags under our eyes.

When we sleep even two hours less than normal, we can begin to see effects from having not enough sleep.

Unbalanced Skin

When you are sleeping, your body uses that time to clear away dead skin cells and build new ones. This helps prevent breakouts, red skin, and a dehydrated complexion.

When you do not get enough sleep, your skins Ph levels drop, causing your skin to look dry and/or oily, redness and breakouts can occur as well.

Tips To Help Your Skin

If you are having trouble sleeping, look into these tips to try and get a good night’s sleep that will leave your skin glowing!

•Avoid Alcohol

If you are a person who enjoys a drink after work, such as a beer, know that it can interfere with your REM sleep, contributing to your dark circles. If you do decide to have a drink, make sure it’s a couple of hours before bed.

A great tip for covering up dark circles is to not highlight around the eye with makeup. Highlight the cheek area and use a bold lip color to distract from the dark circles under your eyes. You should also consider a good quality concealer. This is a temporary fix until you can get a good night's rest.

•Avoid Electronics Before Bedtime

Do not look at devices too soon before going to bed. Even if you are dimming the brightness, you are still exposing yourself to blue daylight spectrum light. This light mimics the sun, tricking your brain into thinking it is daytime. This hinders the release of melatonin, the hormone that notifies your brain that it’s time to sleep.

If you must use your computer, tablet, or other devices, there are programs you can download to send red waves instead of the blue waves at night. This will be beneficial because melatonin can then be released naturally, which will help you sleep more soundly at night.

•Exercise

Another thing to do if you have trouble sleeping at night is to exercise. Exercise releases endorphins that will make you feel good and alleviate the stresses in your life which may also be keeping you up. However, if you exercise do it few hours before your bedtime.

If you are a beginner to exercise, checkout these helpful workouts tips.

•Avoid Napping During The Day

If you are one that has trouble sleeping, do not nap, especially in the afternoon. It is important you make a schedule for sleeping and make it a habit to follow that schedule every day of the week.

•Set A Routine

Have a relaxing bedtime ritual. This might involve a hot shower or bath with lavender scents to relax you. The more relaxed you are for bed the better you will sleep.

•Avoid Lights

Eliminate any lights that are in your bedroom or anything that will keep you awake. It should be quiet and dark where you sleep. This will help you fall asleep faster and remain asleep.

Also, keep your room cool, studies show that a cool room will help to improve your overall sleep quality.

•Natural Sleep Aids

You may also want to try adding a natural sleep aid into your daily schedule. Chamomile and Valerian are relaxing ingredients and may help you fall asleep faster.

You can also supplement melatonin into your schedule before bed so that you can have a good night's rest and wake up looking and feeling great.

When you lose sleep, not only does it wreak havoc on your mind but also your skin and body. It is important that you average eight hours of sleep per day to keep your skin glowing and healthy. Create a bedtime ritual to keep you relaxed, and make sure you do not use technology too close to bedtime.

Your sleep is important to your overall health. You need sleep to help keep your skin looking young. You cannot deprive your body of sleep and expect to get that beautiful glow. Start sleeping better and achieve your best-looking skin now!

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Hi, I’m Sally Mitchell. I began my career as a makeup artist, and after receiving a diploma in Clinical Dermatology decided to combine my passions for makeup artistry and skin care becoming a licensed beauty professional. Staying informed with the latest cutting edge skin care treatments helps me to share useful tips with readers of Lumeskin.