A good night of sleep is the ultimate pampering for your skin, your hair, and your nails. Great sleep is like getting the “full works” at the spa—a facial, a deep conditioning treatment, a mani-pedi.
Why? Sleep is the prime time for the body to restore and repair itself at the cellular level. It’s during sleep that a fleet of hormones that support cellular health and a youthful appearance go to work.
Poor sleep, on the other hand, accelerates biological aging and contributes to the signs of aging—wrinkles, dull skin, puffy, tired eyes, unhealthy hair—that drive people to sink lots of money and time into make-up and beauty routines.
I’m not telling you to toss your stash of creams and makeup. But the truth is, sleep is the ultimate cosmetic medicine. By establishing a routine of sleeping well, you allow your body to perform its own, innate anti-aging work. The result is a healthier you, and a younger-looking you, too.
I thought we’d have some fun today, and put my sleep advice head-to-head with the beauty industry tips for concealing and reversing the most common signs of aging that most of us want to address.
How sleep makes us look younger
Aside from the number of years we’ve clocked on the planet, how old—or young—we truly look and feel is the result of a host of interrelated factors, including:
- Genetics
- Lifestyle habits and routines
- Diet and exercise
- Stress
- Environment
As an essential and elemental lifestyle routine, sleep makes a major contribution to our individual biological aging process. There are several ways that a full, sound, high-quality night of rest delivers anti-aging benefits and leads directly to a more youthful, healthful appearance.
Cellular growth and repair. If you think for a moment of your body as a vehicle, then logging a great night of sleep is like shipping yourself off to the most highly rated and skilled repair and body shop. During the day, our brains are busily engaged with all the activities of waking life. At night, relieved of its duties to command and control active, wakeful functioning, the brain’s focus shifts its priorities, and at the top of the list is cell growth and repair.
During sleep, the body fixes damaged cells and launches the growth of new cells. As we sleep, we strengthen our biological defense mechanisms that fight back against damage from environmental sources such as UV rays and from radical cells, which contribute to aging and to disease. During sleep, the body increases the production of proteins that fuel cell growth and repair—including collagen, the most plentiful protein in the human body, and one that is essential to healthy, youthful-looking skin. Deep sleep in particular is critical for this cellular repair work. And to maximize your time in deep, slow-wave sleep, you need to get both a full night of sleep and have that night’s sleep be filled with high-quality rest.
Release of human growth hormone. I call HGH “nature’s Botox.” This hormone is a powerful rejuvenator of cells, tissues, and organ function throughout the body. It helps to regulate metabolism, supports strong immune functioning, and offers protection against age-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. All this rejuvenating power means the body’s nightly release of HGH contributes directly to a more youthful appearance of hair, skin, and nails. HGH is an essential component of collagen production.
Most of the body’s HGH production takes place during sleep, in particular during stages of deep, slow-wave sleep. When sleep is restless and fragmented, or when we simply don’t get enough sleep to move through 4-5 full sleep cycles, each containing periods of slow-wave sleep, our bodies are shortchanged on HGH production. That makes us look and feel older, and accelerates underlying biological aging. GABA is one sleep-supporting supplement that also promotes the body’s natural HGH production.
Sleep also promotes:
- Hydration, and the healthy distribution of fluid. Sleep helps keep the body hydrated, and helps avoid excess fluid retention. Dehydration and fluid retention are significant contributors to some of the most visible signs of fatigue and aging.
- Healthy circulation, and slower arterial aging—that’s the age-related damage to the body’s heart and blood vessels. Sleeping well can lower blood pressure, relax blood vessels and improve blood flow, bringing nutrients—and a healthy color—to the skin. Sleep also slows the aging of the heart and blood vessels. Poor circulation and arterial aging are major contributors to the appearance of aging on the skin and hair.
- Lower stress. Stress increases the production of cortisol, increases free radical cells, and weakens the body’s ability to repair itself, all of which contribute to the appearance of age. Sleep also helps keep inflammation in check, and can reduce the stress-related, age-accelerating cellular damage to skin and throughout the body.