Men Need Beauty Sleep, Too

We spend a lot of time and money taking care of our skin.

There is one thing, however, that is vital for keeping our skin looking healthy, vibrant and youthful that is completely passive.

Sleep.

Beauty sleep is not just a quaint expression. Sleep really does keep our skin healthy and looking good. When we don't get enough sleep it does a number on our skin. And all that time, effort and money spent to keep our skin vibrant and healthy goes to waste if we are sleep deprived.

From bags under our eyes, to pallid looking skin, to deep wrinkles. Lack of sleep doesn't just affect our mood and performance. It also affects how we look.

If you are serious about keeping a good skin care routine, add an hour or more sleep a night. 8 hours a night is ideal. With a good, restful sleep and some effective skin care products, you will see amazing results in just a couple of weeks.

How sleep helps your skin

A few weeks of insomnia and you will notice bags under your eyes, skin sagging and discoloration. Your lack of sleep is causing you to age faster.

When we sleep our body sends collagen to our skin. That collagen is vital to keep your skin elastic and hydrated. If we don't sleep enough, we don't produce enough collagen.

Our skin is bombarded all day with nasty stuff. Chlorine, UV rays, dirt and grime and chemicals. To repair itself it needs growth hormones. While we sleep, particularly at the beginning and the late stages of sleep, our body sends out these growth hormones. These hormones stimulate skin cell production. Those new cells replace the old, dead skin cells we shed during the course of the day. Out with the old and in with the new!

If your sleep is not long enough, or is frequently disrupted, then this hormone production is limited.

Not only that, but, your body releases a stress cortisol that actually breaks down the collagen that is present in the skin.

Do the math.

When we don't sleep enough we don't produce enough hormones to repair the skin and our body instead produces cortisol that does even more damage.

Here's a list of ways that sleep benefits your skin:

Fewer Wrinkles

The collagen that is produced keeps your skin full, plum and elastic. Wrinkles are not as likely to develop when you get enough sleep. Once your skin starts sagging, wrinkles end up deeper and harder to get rid of

Better Complexion

Rosy cheeks and a healthy glow come from the increased blood circulation to your skin during the night. When you aren't sleeping enough, the circulation isn't as good and you end up with pale, pallid looking skin.

To keep your skin looking youthful at any age, you need that circulation.

Less Puffy Eyes

The most tell tale sign that you aren't sleeping enough are the bags under your eyes. Decreased blood flow causes the blood to collect under your eyes. Sleeping better will increase the blood flow and reduce the dark circles.

That all important collagen production will keep the skin from sagging especially under the eyes.

Look Happier

When your skin starts to sag, it gives your face an unhappy appearance. Literally, you look like you are frowning since the corners of your mouth will droop.

When your skin is tight and your complexion is glowing, you look happier. Your forehead furrows are smoothed out, and wrinkles start to disappear.

Products Work Better

Sleeping will get your skin taking care of itself with the boost in hormone and collagen production. You can give it a boost with some products. Skin products are more likely work when your skin is working with them.

A hydrating lotion is particularly helpful since your skin tends to lose moisture during the course of the night. Using a lotion to retain that moisture allows your skin to repair itself easier.

How to Get More Sleep

Life these days is stressful.

There aren't enough hours in the day to get the things done that need doing. What usually takes a back seat in response? Sleep.

Make sleep a priority and get your skin care back on track. An added bonus is just about every other area of your life will improve when you sleep enough.

Here are some tips to getting a good night sleep:

Get to bed on time

If you're starting to feel sleepy, head right to bed. You will likely fall asleep very quickly and stay asleep. It seems like a no brainer, but often we start to feel sleepy but keep flicking through the TV channels, or keep our heads in our laptops or tablet.

When you don't go to bed when you are ready, you become overtired and it actually makes it more difficult to get to sleep.

Put the phone, laptop or tablet away

Besides the fact that using your computer or phone is very stimulating, there is also a blue light emitted that inhibits melatonin production. That melatonin is what the brain needs to signal that it is time to sleep. The longer you keep looking at your phone, the longer it takes to produce the melatonin.

You should stop using your phone or computer at least 30 minutes before you plan to go to bed.

Set up your bedroom for sleep

You should make your bedroom as inviting as possible.

Make sure anything that would distract you from sleep is eliminated. Block any light and sound from outside. If your neighbors are loud or you live on a busy street then try washing out any distracting noise. This guide to white noise machines will help.

An essential oil diffuser will also help to help your room smell pleasant. There are oils that help put you in a relaxed mood and help calm your thoughts to fall asleep.

Take a bath before bed

A warm bath will help relax the muscles and ease any tension. This will help get you relaxed and get your brain on board. Once you have your body and your brain ready, then you should fall asleep very quickly.

Take natural sleep supplements

Sleep supplements are kind of hit or miss. Natural ones contain herbs and essential oils from many plants that have been known to help us sleep. The jury is out with how effective they are. However, anything that has melatonin as its primary active ingredient will usually help.

Since Melatonin is a hormone that is produced to help the brain start to shut down for sleep, it does actually work for most people. Melatonin supplements are a great place to start.

I don't recommend too many sleep aids that aren't natural since some can be addicting, or leave you feeling drowsy the next day.

Stop your snoring

Snoring can sound like you are sleeping well, but the reality is that you aren't necessarily in a deep sleep.

Even worse is when your partner is snoring. This guide on how to stop snoring is useful for you and your partner so both of you can get a good night sleep.

Use a sleep tracker

Knowing your sleep patterns is a great way to see where your sleep is coming up short. Maybe you are getting to bed on time, taking supplements and wearing a sleep mask. Yet, you still feel fatigued and your skin is not looking so hot.

A sleep tracker like this one from Beddit, is a great way to analyze your sleep patterns. Understanding how you sleep will help you come up with a game plan to combat your sleep issues.  Once you know why you're not sleeping well, you can take measures to fix it.

Final Thoughts On Beauty Sleep for Men

Take this is a challenge.

Take a picture of your face from a few different angles. Almost like a mug shot. These will be your before pictures.

Then try some techniques to fall asleep and stay asleep with the goal to at least add another hour of sleep per night, with the ideal being a solid eight hours.

After three weeks, take the same mug shots of your face. Look at the difference. You will definitely see your skin glowing, rosy and youthful looking.

Pay attention to how people talk to you and what they say. Note how many compliments you get per day.

Not just about your skin, but people will ask you if you got a haircut, or, if you went on vacation. Things like that since they might not be able to put a finger on why you look so different.

If this doesn't convince you to start getting better sleep, consider how much better you feel, how much more energy you have and how much more productive you are in life.

It may seem like we are too busy to waste time sleeping, but the reality is that those hours are vital to our well being.

Do you have some tips on sleep? Let me know in the comment section below or share this article by clicking the social media icons to the left!