Beauty sleep is a term we throw around so often, more so to describe the lack of it in our daily routine. We recently touched upon what happens when you get a full seven to eight-hours beauty sleep (read here). At this year’s Sleep Expo Middle East, we caught up with Marija Šoštarić, Co-founder of Tamryn (a bespoke fitness company that caters to all age groups) to find out the health benefits of getting that much-desired beauty sleep
Poor sleep causes numerous problems for our internal and external body as it sends your mind and body into overdrive which leads to many different physical and mental health issues. Melatonin, a hormone important for rest, recovery and relaxation gets produced at night time and it is essential for our mind and body.
To begin with, one of the most obvious benefits of sleep is great skin. We all know when you don’t sleep enough, you get the famed panda, puffy eyes. Poor sleep causes low blood pressure hence poor circulation which leads to our skin looking puffy, dull and grey, causing puffiness and dark circles under our eyes.
Another benefit of getting a good night’ sleep is that your body heals itself while you rest. As an athlete; I need sleep for muscle recovery as when we sleep our body pumps out healing hormones which repairs various parts of our body including damaged skin.
Believe it or not our hair also gets impacted when we don’t sleep enough. For hair growth to happen, we need blood flow to our hair follicles and when we don’t get enough sleep our blood pressure goes down causing poor circulation. Because of that, blood flow to our hair decreases so it is not getting enough nutrition and vitamins which weakens it and leads to hair loss.
Stress is a word you do not want to mess with too, nor do you want it to be a part of your life whatsoever. It impacts our mood, skin and immunity and when we don’t get enough sleep our body produces cortisol (AKA the stress hormone). If we have high levels of it due to poor sleep, it leads to various conditions including weight gain (in particular on our abdomen area) and weakens our overall immunity, impacting even skin health. Lack of sleep may also lead to high blood pressure, depression and irritability, so overall it impacts everything, most especially skin and hair. When you are not feeling good inside chances are you won’t look good on the outside as well.
Last but not least, our body makes new collagen when we sleep, and it is very, very important! I am sure you have seen collagen supplements when you are out and about. Firstly, collagen aids with the anti-aging process and skin repair, it prevents wrinkles, sagging and prevents dryness. Other than being an anti-ageing miracle, collagen also eases joint pain, helps with weight loss, aids with building muscles and may improve digestive health. Even if you are taking a supplement it isn’t as effective as the real thing you get after a good night’s rest.
TOP TIPS
- Try a simple breathing exercise, inhale for 5 seconds, pause for a second and then exhale for another 5 seconds. Breath through your nose and feel the breath in your abdomen and suck the diaphragm in. To help with control, put a hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Practice this method for 2 minutes and feel yourself relax slowly but surely. Use lavender essential oil on your pillow and wrists when doing this.
- Eat light before bedtime and avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and other chemicals that interfere with sleep too, close to bed time. Make sure to hydrate well before bedtime with chamomile tea, I use the ‘Sleeping Tea’ from WellCo which helps me a lot.
- Magnesium is a powerful and important mineral that we all need as it’s what helps us sleep well. Add these foods to your diet to maximize your intake: avocados (one avocado a day); bananas (avoid if you are on a diet as they are high in fructose); nuts (organic); dark leafy vegetables (have a green smoothie o’clock every day) and dark chocolate (organic dark chocolate at least 75% cacao).
- Our body follows a 24 -hour cycle known as circadian rhythm. Based on different signals, the rhythm knows when it is your bed time, one way of doing this is by raising your body temperature. That is why any type of exercise will improve sleep, studies show that low intensity work outs are more effective for those who suffer from insomnia. Work out 2 hours before bed time and it may improve your sleep quality.
You can book your complimentary session with Tamryn today if you would like to learn more!
