I won’t bore you with details on how adequate sleep is an essential part of skincare. Let’s instead focus on the top 3 things to do to get the most bang for your beauty sleep buck!
1) Respect thy circadian rhythm: Studies show that between 10pm and 2am is when your body will get the most rest when you’re sleeping. People who slept four hours from 10pm-2am versus 2am to 6am did far better in wakefulness tests. Without going into too much of the study, the short summary is that going to bed somewhere between 10pm and 2am is best and ideal if closer to 10pm as possible (but who can actually do that? 10pm?!). We think by midnight is a decent compromise.
2) Do not, we repeat, do not sleep on your face: Sorry if you do, but it may be time for a change. Sleeping on your face causes your skin to get compressed. Worse, it reduces circulation so your skin isn’t as good at repairing itself at night. And obviously, it also creases and could accelerate wrinkle formation. Also, fluid pools and can cause puffiness.
3) Get serious about the night skincare regimen: Since your body isn’t working to protect the skin overnight without pollutants attacking it, it can focus on repairing damage done throughout the day at night. Also, key ingredients in your skincare regimen (vitamins, retinoids, proteins) can lose potency after sun exposure, so these tend to work better at night. Also, cell turnover happens in your sleep so give that a boost with your skincare regimen. Finally, if the night-work is done more effectively, the skin can better protect itself during the day. Lots of reason to take that extra 3 minutes and put on your serums, lotions and creams before calling it a night. Especially when you’re dead tired.
