Not Sleeping Enough? How Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Skin & What You Can Do

Beauty sleep: it’s not just an old cliché. Sleep is one of the most important things your body needs to help repair and regenerate. Not getting enough sleep can wreak havoc on your internal health, causing everything from a slower metabolism to irritability to painful skin problems. While you snooze, your skin goes into repair mode, sending fresh cells to the epidermis to give your skin a youthful glow. Skimp on shut-eye and you can expect to see the deficiency on your face.

Dehydration

During deep sleep, the body adjusts its overall hydration levels. It drains and processes excess water, sending moisture into the skin’s vital layers. Not enough sleep messes with your body’s hydration balance, leading to a dull, dry complexion. If you’re having an especially sleepless week, double up our Hyaluronic Hydrating Serum (HA) to help your skin maintain balanced moisture levels.

Breakouts & Inflammation

When you don’t get enough sleep, your body goes into panic mode, releasing loads of stress hormones like cortisol. These stress hormones increase inflammation and make it harder for your body to battle acne-causing bacteria. This increase in inflammation can cause red, painful breakouts and exacerbate underlying inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis and rosacea. If you notice a stress-induced breakout lurking, an at-home face peel with salicylic acid like our TCA Multi-Acid Face Peel to kill acne-causing bacteria and keep skin clear.

Dark Circles

When your body is all wigged out from lack of sleep, your blood vessels dilate, causing blood to pool under your eyes. As blood gathers, pesky dark circles appear and can be challenging to diminish. Get some shut eye and pop our Firming Eye Complex in the fridge to give your skin a refreshing treatment that helps reduce puffiness. Use our MicroNeedling Tool with our Firming Eye Complex and Ice Roller to de-puff, hydrate, and thicken the epidermis to reduce the appearance of dark circles.

Pre-Mature Aging

Did you know that sleep is essential to warding off intrinsic skin aging? While we sleep, skin produces new collagen to help repair injuries and damage. More collagen equals plumper, softer, youthful-looking skin. You may not notice the aging effects right away, but if you are regularly sleep-deprived, your skin will gradually develop more wrinkles and signs of aging than if you’d been consistently well-rested.

Just can’t get to sleep? Try going to bed 10 minutes earlier each night until you reach the goal bedtime you need to get the 8-10 hours of sleep recommended by doctors. Try taking melatonin or another herbal remedy; they always help me! I also love lavender essential oil and a long soak in an Epsom salt bath to soothe myself into sleepiness.