Beauty sleep. Sleeping Beauty. Is there really any correlation to sleep and beauty? What does sleep do to your skin and hair? Does sleep help with weight loss? Can we really be honest about how are lack of sleep affects our sex life? Are those that sleep longer more likely to live and look younger? Yes! Here are 3 tips on how sleep helps you live and look younger.
Sleep and Weight Loss
Take two women who both work out daily, a mixture of cardio and strength training. They both are committed to eating clean with a healthy balance of lean proteins, clean carbs and healthy fats. Yet the results are different for each. One seems to gain weight and the other is fit, lean and maintaining her weight. The difference unknown to us is that the latter sleeps 7-9 hours a night and the other who struggles with her weight barely sneaks in 6 hours. You can already guess the result. You’ve woken up from a bad night of sleep and already feel your day is off to a horrible start. You might eat the same thing the day before but your energy is low, your workouts are lethargic and you find yourself wanting to snack. Now stack on 4-7 nights in a row of bad sleep and you can imagine what happens to your workouts and your nutrition.
“When people are sleepy, they make poor food choices and are more likely to eat more than they need,”
Kenneth Wright, director of sleep and chronobiology laboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Live and Look Younger Tip #1: Sleep 7-9 Hours to Help with Weight Loss
Sleep and Sex Life
A little frisky business with your spouse always makes you feel younger. Yet, when we are sleep deprived we tend to give less attention to our spouse. We rush to and from meetings, phone calls, carpooling kids back and forth from practice and the last thing we are thinking about is hanging with our spouse for some R&R. We’re exhausted and then we realize we never even fed the kids. We crawl in to bed and pass out. 3 am hits and the 4 year old crawls in needing a drink and ends up kicking the side of our head for another 2 hours.
According to Psychology Today “sleep deprivation takes its toll on individuals’ sex lives for the obvious reason: it makes them tired. Being too tired for sex is the leading reason reported by individuals or couples who have lost interest in sex.
Yet on the flip side…Sex helps us sleep better.
Live and Look Younger Tip #2: Sleep helps better Sex and Sex leads to Better Sleep
Sleep and Skin Care
You might have a counter full of face creams, anti-aging rubs, masks, lotions, eye treatments or married to someone who has taken over most of your bathroom with these products. You spend a good portion of each morning and night applying your skin regiment and sun screen (great job!) yet you can throw all that time….and….hard earned money out the window if you don’t get a good nights of sleep.
Dr. Lily Talakoub says, “Sleep deprivation affects wound healing, collagen growth, skin hydration, and skin texture. Inflammation is also higher in sleep-deprived patients, causing outbreaks of acne, eczema, psoriasis, and skin allergies.”
“During sleep, the body releases human growth hormone, a necessary ingredient for collagen production—the protein that gives people shiny hair, strong nails, and glowing skin. Skimping on sleep raises cortisol levels, which can interfere with collagen production. If bedtime has drifted later and later recently, try moving it forward in 15-minute increments over the course of a week or two until you achieve at least a seven-hour minimum.”
Sleep.org says to get 7-9 hours a night for healthy skin.
Do a bedding check to make sure your pillowcases and sheets aren’t damaging your skin and hair. Most dermatologists first recommend replacing your pillow case with 100% Silk option. “I love silk pillow cases,” says Dr. Engelman. “They create less wrinkles and indentations on the skin as you sleep.”
Live and Look Younger Tip #3: Sleep and Silk Pillowcases Help Protect Your Skin
We all want to fight back the aging process. Our hope is that you see the importance of sleep has on your weight loss, sex life and skin care. Three small simple tips to live and look younger.