Beauty Sleep

Getting your Beauty Sleep : The Science Behind Restorative Slumber

We love a good skin care routine - even the act of intentional topicals can feel like such a nice act of self-care - but one simple lifestyle pillar that we often overlook when it comes to the radiance and beauty of our skin is sleep. 

Optimal repair and regeneration of our skin (especially healing from UV radiation damage) occurs with with a good night’s sleep. This, and the effects of lack of sleep, have been studied in the research - becoming most obvious in research on shift workers. Those who work night-shifts tend to have less active DNA repair mechanisms in their skin. 

Oxidative stress tends to contribute to both initiating and perpetuating the processes of skin aging. These changes include shifts in energy usage of the skin cells, communication between cells, cell death and breakdown of the connections between cells - all of which can lead to fine lines, dryness, and thinning of the skin.

We experience this oxidative stress from both internal stresses (what we eat, how much we drink alcohol, how much our body exercises) and our environment (UV exposure, pollution, cigarette smoke) - it’s unavoidable to some degree. Skin aging is normal and shows a life well lived – especially those smile lines!
That said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can do to protect and support our skin health and vibrancy. Avoiding some environmental exposures - by quitting smoking and wearing sunscreen; and improving how well our internal system can combat oxidative stress with antioxidants - through exercise, eating vegetables, and sleep.

Sleep, melatonin and repair

Part of sleep’s role in skin health might actually have to do with melatonin. Melatonin is much more important than just regulating our circadian rhythm, it’s also an important antioxidant. It has been associated with suppressing UV damage, wound healing, pain management, fertility and cancer prevention.  There is likely a link with skin repair - happening at a greater rate overnight, when melatonin is high.

Did you know that your skin actually has genes that contribute to our circadian rhythm? How much water we lose through our skin, skin cell turnover, as well as skin blood flow and temperature, have all been shown to vary according to our circadian rhythm.  We tend to lose more water through our skin in the evening - one of the reasons those of you with eczema may notice it feels extra itchy at night!
This makes bedtime an important time to moisturize and use your topical creams. Our skin is more permeable to topicals at night, so it’s the perfect time for a deeply moisturizing serum.

Sleep restriction seems to impact our skin hydration, impact our skin barrier, and reduce elasticity – all of which contributing to both appearance and function! Studies show that even one night of sleep restriction might have noticeable impacts on how our skin looks. With just one day of restriction, you might notice changes in skin’s glossiness and fine lines. A few days of sleep restriction and you will likely notice texture changes. Elasticity seems to continue to decrease with longer term sleep issues.

Sleep restriction is also a Stress

Unfortunately, lack of sleep is a double-whammy in that chronic sleep deprivation is also a stress on our body. Apart from missing out on the benefits of cell repair with less restful sleep, this sleep deprivation stress also impacts our stress-response system. Chronic stress  can increase inflammation leading to issues with our skin barrier and immune defence.

Improving our sleep and managing our stress can work wonders on helping our skin glow from the inside out. Turns out, “beauty sleep” is a real thing!