Beauty Sleep - How sleep affects your skin

We know how sleep, or lack of it, can make us feel but did you know how it can affect how your skin looks? Sleep is the skin's time to recover and regenerate from the day so it's vital we're getting enough. The link between good deep sleep and healthy skin is all in the science, here we break down what you need to know to keep your glow.

Collagen production

Your skin produces 70% of its collagen while we're in deep sleep. Our skin needs this to retain it's plumpness and elasticity so when our collagen levels are depleted, that's when loss of firmness and and development of wrinkles accelerate. Not only does your sleep help collagen production, but actually taking collagen supplements promotes better sleep.

Hydration

Your hydration levels increase the longer you sleep as it maintains healthy PH levels in your skin which helps prevent dry skin and other skin conditions including premature ageing. Keeping skin hydrated is also important for the body to eliminate toxins. 

Inflammation

Sleep deprivation increases our body's stress hormone - cortisol. This then triggers inflammation which breaks down skin proteins that help keep skin looking radiant and smooth.

Dark circles & puffy eyes 

Your blood vessels dilate with a lack of sleep which causes these dark circles. It's because the skin under our eyes is so thin that these blood vessels are more visible. The puffiness around our eyes comes from the build up of blood and fluid which occurs when we don't get adequate sleep.

Recovery

Good sleep is an important time for skin to recover from environmental stressors (like UV and pollution). It's even been proven that recovery from sunburn is faster with more sleep indicating that it assists with inflammation.

We could all add some more beauty sleep to our skincare regime.