Barre with Justine

What is the single best way to improve your skin, hair and mood? Would you guess it needed to be an expensive new product or a time-consuming ritual?

There is something more effective for beautiful skin and hair than all the beauty products, spa/medical treatments, supplements and exercises that exist out there. It’s REST. Deep sleep and moments of relaxation will boost your beauty more than anything you could actively do or purchase.

A 2010 British Medical Journal study showed that sleep-deprived people were rated as less-attractive!

If this is true (and read on to find out the benefits), why isn’t everyone talking about beauty sleep and why aren’t we all making better sleep a priority?

As a busy mom of three, sleep has been a personal struggle for years. As a fitness instructor and avid reader of health material, I am hyper-aware of the bad things that happen when I don’t sleep well; my energy sucks, my skin looks dull, my mood is terrible, and I gravitate towards unhealthy foods. I have my own ideas on why sleep always falls to the side for me and you may share some of these feelings too.

1. The evening is the only time I have to myself, to watch television (Seinfeld for the 1000th time!), read, tidy up the house, and catch up on things left from the day.
2. I never take time during the day to build in restful moments – it’s a whirl of activities from morning to night. So when I do lie down at night, my body is still amped up and can’t relax.
3. Bad habits during the day come back to haunt me at night….that second cup of coffee, the glass of wine too late in the day, too much exercise (yes, it’s true!).

Can you relate to any of these things? Why is it that these things have such a bad effect on our sleep?

Well, staying up late clearly pushes sleep later meaning that – even though my kids will still wake at 6am as always – they have had 8-10 hours of sleep whereas I’ve had only 6. By never building in restful moments like breathing mindfully or doing some gentle stretches, my body isn’t quite prepared to sleep at night. I remember being at a Brock wellness workshop once and asking a question about how to sleep better (it’s been an issue for a while!) and taking pauses during the day was the teacher’s recommendation. This article goes into some of the reasoning behind adding breaks to your day for better sleep with the main point being that we don’t need to take as much time to unwind at night if we build rest into our day.

My bad habits of extra coffee or a later glass of wine can disrupt sleep so it isn’t a surprise that these can cause poor sleep at night.

So now, in the hopes of convincing you and me of getting better sleep, here are the science-backed benefits of sleep for beauty (see the Scientific Studies listed at the end of this post):

• improved collagen production
• better circulation to the skin and hair follicles = a rosier glow and healthier hair
• happier facial expressions
• more confidence and happiness (always good for beauty!)
• better skin repair and wound healing

Dr. Michael Breus is a sleep expert and it was his book Good Night that convinced me of the beauty benefits of sleep. He provides testimonials from patients who improved their sleep and saw the beauty benefits including the following:

“…my skin looked luminescent, radiating healthfulness. I wasn’t even making any efforts with makeup, either. Of course, she wanted to know what product I was using or what diet I was on, and I told her it was simply a new sleep regimen.”

From Good Night by Michael Breus ( p. 144)

How to get better sleep – tips that work for me

1. try some gentle stretches before bed (scroll down for my own video of stretches)…legs against the wall is ideal for settling the body and mind.
2. drink chamomile or another relaxing herbal tea (Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime is my favourite)
3. write down thoughts from the day or ideas for tomorrow in a journal before going to sleep
4. try Saje “sleep well” roller on the soles of your feet…it has valerian oil which is not my favourite oil so I try to keep the smell away from my nose! The oil goes into the bloodstream quickly from the soles of the feet so it works well for me.
5. diffusing lavender oil is also very helpful for creating a peaceful mood.

Bedtime Stretches (with me!)

A great podcast episode with Dr. Breus!

Scientific Studies:

Axelsson J, Sundelin T, Ingre M, Van Someren E J W, Olsson A, Lekander M et al. Beauty sleep: experimental study on the perceived health and attractiveness of sleep deprived people BMJ 2010

V. Kahan, M.L. Andersen, J. Tomimori, S. Tufik, Can poor sleep affect skin integrity?,
Medical Hypotheses, Volume 75, Issue 6, 2010, 535-537.

P. Oyetakin‐White and others, Does poor sleep quality affect skin ageing?, Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, Volume 40, Issue 1, 1 January 2015, Pages 17–22