What's The Truth About Beauty Sleep?
By Donovan Baldwin
Beauty is big business these days.
In fact, it is so big that one recent estimate put the amount spent worldwide on beauty products (cosmetics), at about $382 BILLION.
So, there's no surprise that anybody with mud in their yard is trying to market it as a "therapeutic mud pack" or whatever in hopes of cashing in on that mass of money!
While beauty products, cosmetics, may have some benefits in helping you look, or at least, feel, more beautiful, one of the most valuable resources is incredibly cheap and, if you do it right, easy to access.
Not going to keep you in suspense (probably couldn't anyway, considering the title of this article)... it's sleep. Good old fashioned, go to bed and shut your eyes, sleep.
No money to spend, creams to apply, concoctions, pills, powders, nostrums, or incantations. Just get yourself a good night's sleep regularly, and you may have just accessed the fountain of youth.
However, there is a basic application of this product, you need, and we're each different, between seven and nine hours of good sleep each night to begin turning the clock back... or slowing it down, at least.
HOW to GET that good quality sleep is another topic discussed elsewhere, but, here are some benefits of squeezing out some good quality sleep each night and slathering it all over.
BEAUTY BENEFITS OF SLEEP
1. A more youthful appearance:
One of the main functions of sleep is to restore and repair ALL of the body (and the mind as well). But, it takes time to repair each day's damage, including what has been done to the skin. That's where the seven to nine hours of sleep comes in. The body needs that time to, among other duties, make new collagen, which helps prevent sagging. More collagen means fewer wrinkles, and a healthier looking skin overall.
2. A more vibrant complexion:
I think the word we hope to find is "glowing". Yep, seven to nine hours of good sleep each night will put the glow on ya. This is because of increased blood flow to the skin while you sleep. Fail to get the needed sleep and your skin will begin to look pale, pasty, washed out, dull... well, you get the picture.
3. More youthful eyes:
They say the eyes are the windows of the soul, and, a good night's sleep can clean those windows... make them bright and sparkly. Puffy eyes, dark circles, and bags under your eyes are the prize for NOT getting enough sleep. While you're NOT sleeping, you might go out of your way to stay hydrated too, as THAT can help in this department as well. In fact, DE-hydration possibly has as much an influence on appearance as NOT getting enough sleep.
4. A more youthful body and mind:
What is happening specifically to your skin during a good night's sleep is also happening to your body and your mind. Have you ever been around someone who was outwardly beautiful, but it was not a pleasure to be around? Conversely, have you ever been around someone who was NOT beautiful by the social standards of the day, yet attracted people like bright flowers attract bees and hummingbirds? I have. Usually it's because of, for lack of a better term, their vivacity. Their enjoyment of life, and a good night's sleep is going to help you feel more mentally and physically refreshed, and allow you to enjoy life... and other people, more. When you enjoy life and other people, they tend to enjoy YOU!
5. Banishes stress:
Whether you're talking health or beauty, stress is one of the obstacles to be overcome. Stress, even "good stress", happy stress, a wedding, a birth, a new job, can be destructive to health and appearance. Again a topic too big to go into here, but, more than one expert considers stress to be a major risk factor for conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and, overall, good glowing health. One of the purposes of sleep is to relieve us of the stress which accumulates over each waking period, and, again, the longer we sleep, the better, within that seven to nine hours of sleep range.
SUMMARY
I am sure that within that bevy of beauty products, and cosmetics, being offered to artificially enhance your natural beauty, there ARE almost certainly some that can make this look younger, that glow a little more, and a few wrinkles hide for a few moments. However, one of the cheapest and best beauty products is simply good lifestyle choices... regular moderate exercise, proper nutrition, and, you guessed it, a good night's sleep... again and again and again (and hydration).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donovan Baldwin is an exercise and fitness enthusiast and author of articles, editorials, and poetry. He is retired from the U.S. Army after 21 years of service and is a University of West Florida alumnus (BA Accounting 1973). He currently resides in the Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas metroplex. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/donovanbaldwin, at Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/donovanbaldwin. His blog on poetry and writing can be found at ravensong-poetry.blogspot.com.
PERMISSION TO REPRINT
This article is an original work, copyright September 2021, by the author, Donovan Baldwin. You have permission to reprint this article in its entirely on your blog, forum, or website as long as you do not alter its original context, AND give credit to the author and include a link to the original article.
ARTICLE LINK
http://nodiet4me.com/sleep/beauty_sleep.html
