Sleeping Is Beauty

Stress and sleep are partners in crime. One affects the other like a see saw. When we don’t sleep enough, stress levels are higher. The more we stress, our quality of sleep is lower. The good thing is that these two skin thieves can be controlled.

Stress is inevitable; our reaction is what ages us more quickly …or not. Sleep, on the other hand, is one of the keys to controlling our stress. Healthy sleep. Healthy life. Healthy skin.The Center for Disease Control (CDC) said, “Adults need 7 or more hours of sleep per night for the best health and wellbeing. Short sleep duration is defined as less than 7 hours of sleep per 24-hour period.”

Medical Xpress quoted Ying-Hui Fu, a molecular biologist, and geneticist who studies sleep at the University of California, San Francisco, ”To me, the only thing more important than sleep is air and water. You cannot live very long without sleep." Some of us might know a person who sleeps less than six hours a day and functions normally. It doesn’t mean that it’s healthy. Then, some special people are actually born with the short sleep syndrome gene or DEC2. (Imagine being the parents of these infants! No sleep. Ever.) Only 1% of the earth’s population are natural short sleepers. 

If someone is a natural short sleeper, he or she knows it. They don’t need a nap or coffee. Short sleepers feel fine with under six hours of sleep and do not suffer from the consequences that sleep-deprived, caffeine-dependent short sleepers do. After a 10-year sleep study at the University of California, San Francisco, the short sleeper gene was found in a family for three generations!“Today, most people are chronically sleep-deprived. If you need eight to nine hours, but only sleep seven, you’re sleep-deprived. This has well-known, long-term health consequences. You’re more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, metabolic problems, and a weakened immune system,” Ying-Hui Fu explained on the UCSF website.

Sleep is a key element in skin health. Our skin and bodies are healing during sleep. We age more slowly when we are consistently sleeping enough. AlaskaSleep.Org described that during a 7-8 hour night’s sleep, the human growth hormone, melatonin (which acts as an antioxidant), and the stress hormone –cortisol, are all released.Chronic sleep deprivation causes our skin to lose collagen, elasticity, hydration, all leading to premature wrinkles. Less sleep makes us look older than we are.

The best that us 99-percenters can do is to try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. It’s a necessity unless we’re natural short sleepers. If not, no need to feel guilty. We’re all born differently and adequate sleep is a basic need like food and water.It's not always easy to attain. Countless adults suffer from insomnia which can be developed from our habits. Sleep Advisor published a super helpful piece on insomnia. If you suffer from insomnia like me, this can help you, too!

People who make self-care a top-shelf priority know the deal. Let’s stick to our healthy lifestyles and skincare regimens. Feed our skin all that it needs from water, nutrients, and great skin products like Rxescue Skin serum.

Nobody is saying to be lazy and sleep for 15 hours. Too much of anything is not good. Get a proper amount of sleep! Our skin depends on it. Sleeping is beauty, inside and out!From Our Skin Care to Yours,

RxESCUESKIN