Dark Therapy!
It turns out that beauty sleep is an actual thing, and that better sleep means better skin. So go ahead and throw out those smoothing creams, face masks, scrubs and certainly sleep masks (having an elastic around your head? Not a great way to exfoliate) and learn how just sleeping can shave up to 10 years off your skin’s look (we have no idea how they came up with that number, but it was said in The Guardian, so it MUST be true).
It turns out that the the tooth fairy isn’t the only benevolent being that gives you gifts while your eyelids are closed – your body itself is doing a lot of work to make you look summer time fresh when you wake up, assuming you got a good nights sleep.
To start with, your body boosts the production of growth hormone while you sleep, which helps skin cells replenish, giving you that nice, refreshed glow. The fact that your brains removes 60% more toxins from your body when you get a good night’s sleep also helps, as does the fact that better sleep impacts your body’s pH balance – too little sleep reduces that balance, reducing your skins ability to moisturizer itself, leading to a dull look as opposed to your radiant self. In fact, this can lead to a host of skin problems, redness, breakouts, itchiness and even skin conditions. So it’s about more than beauty – better sleep is a preventative measure, helping you live better.
And finally, there’s the ultimate indication that a person isn’t sleeping well – those bags under the eyes. Where do they come from? They’re actually dilated blood vessels that pool under your eyes. The skin here is thin, so it’s easier to see the darker colour, and the pooling vessels don’t flow on their merry way because poor sleep also affects your circulation.
All this is to say, that you can spend ridiculous amounts of money on beauty products, but the fountain of youth is actually free (and quite pleasant) – get better sleep to get the better skin you want.