What Happens to your skin when you sleep

What Happens to your skin when you sleep

We all have heard of the term ‘Beauty Sleep’. But does sleep really enhance your beauty? Turns out the answer is a big fat ‘YES!’ Still wondering how? Let me help you decode the truth behind a much needed beauty sleep and understand what really happens to your skin when you sleep.

Throughout the day, our skin is exposed to a concoction of environmental damage in the form of harmful UV rays, pollution and repeated exposure to water which often might not be pure. This accompanied by our body’s natural aging process causes the skin’s health and quality to deteriorate.

During night, a quality sleep of 7-9 hours helps our skin to embark on a natural exfoliation process where it sheds the dead skin cells and repairs all the damage caused during the day. This process leads to a gamut of benefits like:

Fewer Fine Lines and Wrinkles
The skin’s repair system boosts collagen production during night time. Collagen as we all know is a wonder protein that helps enhance skin’s elasticity to give it a youthful glow and reduces wrinkles.

Prevents skin concerns
Sleep helps keep both inflammation and stress hormones under control. This stops aggravation of skin conditions like acne, eczema and psoriasis.

Improves Complexion
Have you ever noticed your skin become dull after sleeping for only a few hours? That’s because when we sleep the blood flow in our body parts including skin increases significantly. An increase in the blood circulation helps one get rid of dullness to get a glowing complexion.

Enhances Appearance of Under eye region
When you snooze, the overall appearance of the under eye region improves tremendously. Lack of sleep is primarily responsible for accumulation of fluids under your eyes which leads to puffy eyes.

Staying up way past bedtime also strains the eye which causes the blood vessels near the eye region to enlarge. This leads to darkening of the area causing dark circles. 

Gives a healthy and happy look
Lack of sleep causes the skin to sag making one's expressions look sad. Sleep improves your facial expressions and gives you a healthy and happy looking skin.

Skincare products work better
Since the skin is in repair mode at night, it responds better to the skincare products at night. During the day, the external factors may hinder your morning skincare products but at night with no environmental obstacles and decreased stress levels intensive skincare products sink in the skin extremely well.
 

Talking of the night skincare regime, I am often asked what is an ideal skincare routine to be followed at night. While sleep is one of the crucial factors, one should also aid it with nourishing skincare products. 

Here are a few pre-bedtime rituals that everyone can follow:

• Always wash your face thoroughly before going to bed. This helps clear all the dirt that may have accumulated on the skin during the day. Women specially should not forget to remove any applied make up. Both dirt and makeup can clog pores which leads to breakouts.

• Follow the above step by applying moisturiser. Ideally if you have a dry and sensitive skin then you should look for hydrating creams whereas if you have an acne prone skin then you should look for non comedogenic products. If you are in doubt about your skin type then it would be best to consult a dermatologist who will be able to guide you to choose the right products for skin type and concerns.

• You can also opt for products with anti-aging and skin lightening ingredients which will boost the skin’s repair mode.

• Make sure to stay away from your screens half an hour before bedtime to ensure a sound sleep.

Quick night skin and hair care routine:

1. Always remove your make up before you sleep

2. Make sure that you use a gentle cleanser to wash your face

3. Use a hyaluronic or retinol based cream at night to rejuvenate the collagen and keep skin supple. 

4. Use a thermal spring mist to refresh if you want to keep it simpler

5. If you have sensitive skin it is best to use a hyaluronic acid and aloe Vera based moisturiser for skin hydration

6. Do it forget to use under eye cream. Remember we age with our eyes first!

7. Don't forget to use a peptide based serum to keep hair follicles in great shape

8. Use a grape seed extract CoQ or soy isoflavones( for women)  supplement at night. 

9. Apply hair oil to body of your hair and do not tie them tight while sleeping

Now that you know that Beauty Sleep isn’t a myth, I hope that you won’t skip sleep and would extend your daytime skin care routine to night time with a good night sleep.