We’re constantly searching for face creams, toners and oils that will improve our skin. Indeed, many of them offer a rich composition of nutrients and are efficacious but none, even the best face cream will not work unless you let yourself have a good and healthy night’s rest. Keep reading to find out why sleep has so much influence over the skin. In this article you will also learn a few ways that can help you improve your sleep. We will also tell you what can be done to make the most of your rest.

Did you know…

… that an experiment done by American students showed that a few days without sleep make our mind have dream-like hallucinations? Apart from seeing things that aren’t really there, when deprived of sleep, our skin looks dull and loses its resilience. Sleep is tremendously important not only for maintaining the brain functions but also for our skin to remain beautiful.

What happens to our skin while we sleep?

To make a long story short: the skin is getting more beautiful.

As you drift off, the body isn’t occupied with so many processes as it has to handle throughout a day, so it can focus on intensive self-repair and deal with all the day’s damage. When it comes to the dermis in particular, night is the ideal time for the skin cells to start multiplying. As the dermis generates new cells, it also cleanses itself. This is why your complexion looks radiant, fresh, rosy and youthful in the morning, when you wake up. This is exactly why sleep is one of the most important “beauty products” for skin.

How does (lack of) sleep affect the skin?

Do your best to sleep for 7-8 hours every day. Once you start having such a long and quality night’s rest, you can expect to get the following benefits:

• You’re energetic, which is even reflected in your skin.
• Complexion looks radiant, rested, rosy and fresh.
• Blood reaches all skin cells so it gives you a healthy skin tone.
• Collagen, which is produced while we sleep, improves skin resilience.
• Melatonin, which is also produced at night, has an antioxidative effect.
• Free radicals are combated.

When you don’t get enough sleep, or when it’s disturbed:

• You’re annoyed.
• It’s barely possible to concentrate.
• Skin looks lifeless.
• Skin tone is dull.
• Eyelids are puffy.
• Eye skin is blemished with dark circles and sagging.
• You can notice imperfections, breakouts and discolorations on the face.
• Too much sebum is secreted.

Evening Beauty Ritual: How to help your skin get the most out of sleep?

Do you know that you can have control not only over the time you devote to sleep but also its quality? Try implementing the following rules to feel the difference.

1. Full makeup removal and evening skin treatments

Under no circumstances should you ever go to bed with makeup residues clogging your skin – this is the deadly sin of skin care! If you want to help your face perform all regeneration processes in an undisturbed manner, take color cosmetics off thoroughly and follow with beauty products that answer the needs of your skin type.

2. Massage & Relax: Ideal duo for your skin’s sake

Facial massage is one of the most important and effective rejuvenating treatments that you can expose your skin to. You can reach for a special facial roller, best if made of jade, quartz or obsidian. If you have absolutely no idea how to use such a roller, watch some video tutorials that the Internet is full of. In this way, you will boost the blood flow in the skin and encourage cell multiplication. Additionally, the skin will absorb more nutrients and deliver them deeper. Furthermore, a few minutes of massaging makes a perfect leisure time for your skin. There is just one thing to bear in mind: before you start doing a facial massage, apply either some face serum or natural oil.

3. Get on a sleep schedule

Setting your own waking up and going to bed time is beneficial for the skin. This helps it work like clockwork – it carries out its self-repairing processes always at the scheduled time, is rested and in a good condition. Not only the complexion but also you too will feel more energetic. You will be more willing to take up some action once you have a good nighttime rest.

4. Sleep on silk!

A soft, silk pillow that is free from synthetic materials helps the skin remain smooth and reduces the risk of irritations. On the top of that, skin covered with silk bed clothes can breathe freely so it doesn’t “suffocate” under a layer of synthetic materials – especially that at night we keep one cheek always pressed to a pillowcase. Actually, a silk pillowcase will also do good to your strands too. How so? The smooth texture of the silk will not cause any micro-damage to the hair.

5. Let some fresh air into your bathroom and get some plants

It’s easier to sleep deeply when the room you lie in is filled with oxygen. If you want to create the perfect environment for sleeping soundly, decorate the bedroom with some plants – plenty of them clear the air which positively influences your sleeping.