So you’re drinking your eight glasses of water, getting your two fruit and five veg, every day and exercising regularly. Still not seeing that beautiful, clear, glowing complexion you’re dreaming of? It might have to do with your sleep.
There are two major ways your sleep patterns can affect your skin – first of all, it’s to do with how you sleep.
Upgrade your pillow case
Sleeping on your side can be super comfortable and usually results in you switching sides throughout the night. However, constant pressure on the sides of your face can form lines due to the pressure of your face on the pillow. If you’re using a cotton pillowcase, you can easily dehydrate your skin as cotton sucks the moisture out. An easy fix for this is to invest in a silk or satin pillowcase. It won’t draw as much moisture from your skin and it feels so beautifully cool in the warmer months.
What to buy: The SLIP Embroidered Silk King Pillowcase will absolutely help you get a great night’s sleep and protect your skin. It’ll prevent damage to your skin and hair, and will hydrate your face. Available here.
Upgrade your sleeping position
Sleeping on your stomach is probably the absolutely worst position for keeping your face looking gorgeous. Firstly, there’s a lot of pressure happening which form lines, secondly, due to our old friend gravity, there’ll be fluid accumulating under your eyes which can cause puffiness. And last but not least, oils can transfer from your face to the pillowcase that can clog pores and eventually cause blemishes! Try and avoid this one if you can.
Sleeping on your back is pretty much the ideal position. You’re not applying any pressure to your face throughout the night, which will result in fewer lines and wrinkles. You’re also not transferring bacteria and oils from your face to your pillow and back again. Up the ante of this position by applying a thick cream or overnight mask every week to wake up looking amazing!
Upgrade your hours
Another way your sleep can affect your skin is to do with how much sleep you’re getting. When you deprive yourself of sleep you’re basically depriving your brain, body and skin of nourishment. Whilst you sleep, your body works hard to remove dead cells and when you get the proper amount of sleep your body is able to get rid of 60% more toxins!
Not getting enough sleep can imbalance the pH levels in your skin. This leads to a dehydrated complexion, redness, and breakouts. Whenever your pH level isn’t at it’s best, you don’t look your best. And of course, there are dark circles – when you do an all-nighter, your blood vessels dilate which gives you those horrible bags under your eyes and the dark blue/purple color.
Have I given you enough reasons to make sure you’re getting your solid eight hours? Make sure you try to stay sleeping on your back and don’t burn the candle at both ends if you want a glowing complexion!
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