How does sleep affect the skin

Two-thirds of the population in developed countries don’t get the required 8 hours of sleep a night which may or may not surprise you. The problem is, even just having six or seven hours of sleep a night reduces your immune system, raises certain hormone levels to make you crave sugar and reduces other hormones that tell you when you’re full and satisfied and, research is even saying that it can double our rate of cancer, but I’m not into scaremongering over here so it’s up to you whether you take that on board or not. How does sleep or lack of it affect the skin?

How does sleep affect the skin?

What does happen when we get enough sleep are a whole heap of health benefits, such as helping our brain to make sense of the day, helping it make logical decisions, and improving its ability to learn and memorise things. It helps refuel our immune system, balance our metabolic state, helps our gut’s microbiome and regulates our appetite. Not only this but sleep also boosts blood to the skin, helps make collagen, helps our hair grow by ensuring the right nutrients are getting to our hair follicles and helps our beauty products work better because of the blood that is being sent to the skin whilst we are catching our sleep.

Impressed? Want more sleep? Thought so. How would you feel if I said I’d like you to commit to 8 hours of sleep a night? 

If you wake up earlier than that fine, but allow for 8 hours of sleep for now. This is because our body needs to mentally and physically process everything we have done that day. 

If you want to start glowing inside and out this is a vital step. And it’s simple. 

For now, just think about getting some more sleep. If you have little ones then try and get as much as you can and remember to breathe, they are little for a short time so it won’t be like this forever! 

Top tips for better sleep

To help you sleep better, I’d like you to do a few things from the below list as this will help with a restful night's sleep. 

• Avoid caffeinated drinks, such as coffee, tea, coke or energy drinks. 
• Avoid spicy food at night
• Avoid eating huge meals later on in the evening 
• Start to increase your protein at night as this helps your body convert it into sleep hormones. 
• Have chamomile tea as it will help you relax.
• Try and eat before 7 pm as getting to sleep is harder after a large meal.

The first thing we need to do is figure out the time that we need to be up and work 8 hours back from that. Then an extra hour again for our evening routine to start. 

The second thing we want to do is turn our phones onto aeroplane mode (I do this every night) and pop our alarm on. We want to avoid social media and using anything that emits ‘blue light’ to us before bed because there has been extensive research to show that this affects our sleep by firstly delaying us getting to sleep because it delays our melatonin levels peaking (the levels that send signals to the pineal gland in our brain that looks after our circadian rhythms (controls our wake and sleep cycles). Secondly, it reduces the quality of our sleep because the REM part of our sleep is lighter (Rapid Eye Movement) which is when we dream and the final stage of our sleep and we also take longer to wake up and feel sleepier upon waking if using a device beforehand. Crazy, no?! 

So - no phones before bed peeps!

Evening routines to help wind down

We then want to get our own evening routine sorted. Do you go and have a bath or a shower? Do you make yourself a cup of herbal tea with sleepy properties in it? (my personal favourite!) and then read a book? Another personal favourite of mine is to put my lump light on and turn the main light off. This gradually dims so it helps my melatonin levels increase as the light fades and helps set me up for a restful night's sleep. If you don’t have one of these, you could easily pop a few candles on and turn the main light off to help relax you in the evening.

I personally also enjoy a sleep meditation to completely relax - and do a gua sha treatment to myself while doing my evening skincare.

What are your best tips for better sleep?

Are you new to Jenny Nordic Skincare?

Hi, I'm Jenny the founder and formulator of Jenny Nordic Skincare.

We are a natural, minimal skincare brand all about that grown-up glow. Your skin is not the same as it was in your 20s - or even 30s! The skin is forever changing and you're approaching a new season. It might be showing more wrinkles and spots. You’re looking for minimal, high-performance skincare that will make you feel (and look) like a treat. 

With Jenny Nordic minimal, high-performance skincare, you can take a few moments to yourself every day and care for your skin just with a few steps. I promise you'll fall in love with your skin and feel radiant.

Check out our Travel Skincare Set - it's the easiest and most convenient way to try our products!

Love, Jenny

Founder of Jenny Nordic Skincare

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