Is Beauty Sleep Real?

“You look tired”, something we all hate hearing. 

There are plenty of wives tales in the beauty industry (and the health industry). And today we’re asking the question… Is beauty sleep real?

Short answer. Yes. 

Long answer, let’s dive in. 

Holistic Beauty

There’s been an amazing trend in beauty recently where we are seeing things like diet, lifestyle, pollution and sleep have just as much (if not more) of an effect on our hair, skin and nails as do the products and treatments we use on them. 

In 2020, you really can’t care about beauty without acknowledging this fact, and it’s great to see more and more people acknowledge health and beauty and even medicine from a holistic perspective. 

And when you think about the fact that sleep problems are associated with almost all lifestyle diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, it’s no shock that it’s also going to affect our skin health and even signs of ageing. 

Of course diet is a huge factor in this, but sleep has just as much of an effect. 

In fact, Grazia Magazine recently coined the term "overnight beauty treatments" and we are totally here for that. 

What Is "Beauty Sleep"? 

And when we say beauty sleep, we’re not exactly talking about “beauty” because we believe beauty looks and feels different on everyone, and it should! What we’re talking about is skin health, perception of appearance, and signs of ageing. 

The Science Behind Beauty Sleep

We're love a bit of science to see what really works and what doesn't.

This study indicates that chronic poor sleep quality is associated with increased signs of intrinsic ageing, diminished skin barrier function (which is the outermost layer of our skin) and in terms of self perception, a lower satisfaction with appearance. 

And this study shows that chronic inadequate and poor quality sleep accelerates intrinsic ageing. 

Even further, after just one night of sleep deprivation, this study shows that people “appear” less healthy, less attractive, and more tired compared to a healthy eight hours of sleep. 

While this was based more upon behavioural interactions as opposed to physical attributes of hair, skin and nails, it’s certainly enough to get us loading up on SleepyBare and making our bedrooms a blissful haven of relaxation.

And in terms of our features, results show that sleep deprivation affects features relating to the eyes, mouth, and skin, and that these features function as cues of sleep loss to other people. 

So basically this is how people get to that response of “you look tired” or even worse “late night?”. *cringe*

But What Now?

Prioritising eight hours of sleep is only going to do you good. And if you’re wondering how you can eat a diet that improved your sleep quality, we’ve got you covered. Here is a list of food habits you can change today that will give you a better sleep tonight.

Get the eye mask ready. 

Love the idea of an overnight beauty treatment? Our SleepyBare was recently featured in Grazia's list of top products to make you more beautiful while you sleep!