With a beauty market flooded with sculpting and rejuvenating creams, the often overlooked yet scientifically proven solution to make you look and feel beautiful is sleep.
This obvious and affordable activity may have been taken for granted when you were younger. As young people tend to do, you likely fell asleep easily and awoke energized. As we age, the stresses of life coupled with the inability to find enough time to get a good night’s rest can have a dramatic impact. Sometimes we can’t fall asleep, stay asleep or schedule enough time to o either!
There is a science to sleep. Its various stages serve a variety of purposes. During stages three and four (the beauty sleep cycle), the body experiences a growth hormone surge that ultimately aids in repairing muscle and bone. The cells of the human body have evidenced an increase in production and reduced breakdown of essential proteins, the foundation of cell growth and damage repair.
Biology aside, we need to get ourselves to the place where we can get the sleep we need. To help you get a good night’s sleep:
- Use aromatherapy to relax you – a bubble bath followed by a lavender sleep mask
- Make your bedroom as “oasis-like” as possible with comfortable pillows, no clutter on the end tables; it should be your refuge, a place to retire after a long and productive day
- Write down everything you need to get done the next day so it is off your mind on the paper
- Try not to do work in bed; working on your laptop while the news is on the television doesn’t set a tranquil tone
- Avoid heavy meals, alcohol, caffeine and sugar before retiring
- Attempt to establish a consistent bedtime
While you may not be able to incorporate every suggestion on the checklist, one or even several of these activities could well provide the rest you deserve.