Bad sleepers have more fine lines on their skin
15-10-2014
You don’t want to end up with a face with more grooves than a record on it, do you? Most of are fairly keen to keep the youthful visage but sadly as we get older we age inside and outside. However, as with almost everything, not everyone ages the same. Many will get more lines on their face from spending more time in the sun, others because they have stressed more over their life, still others because they have smoked and drunk a lot, while others seem to be genetically predetermined to just grow older faster. It turns out that there is another factor in your wrinkling. It is sleep, or lack thereof.
Wrinkly Sleeper
Yes, the news is not good for people who struggle with sleep. Not only do you have to be wary of your emotions, your memory, your appetite, your healing process, your risk of developing cancer, your... ok, let’s stop right there, that is one depressing list as it stands. What’s that, you want to hear about how sleep impacts your wrinkles? Ok, but don’t say we didn’t warn you about this.
The Research
So, as with most of our articles, this one is based on some new research that has been done. As Dr. Brian Horvath of Horvath Dermatology says, “It’s the first study I’ve ever seen of its kind.” No one had ever looked at sleep and wrinkles until Case Medical Center looked at 60 pre-menopausal women age between 30 to 49. They used a standard questionnaire that is used in a number of different studies, the Sleep Quality Index. Around half of the women said that they had “poor quality” sleep. The team at Case Medical Center also looked at the women’s skin with an ultraviolet light. The findings were fairly conclusive, the women who were not sleeping well were found to have a lot more fine lines than those who were sleeping well. Not only that, but they also had a more blotchy skin that was less elastic as well.
Sleep and your Skin
As explained above in the depressing intro, sleep plays a role in a huge number of physiological conditions, it can be seen as one of the core functions in our overall physical and mental wellbeing. So what is it about lack of sleep that is causing the skin to deteriorate faster? Doctor Horvath explains that “The poor sleeper group had increased body mass, a little bit more heavy. Maybe weight impacts skin-aging. So, it may not be just the sleep but other things as well.”
Conclusion
Is there anything you can do to stop this? It all depends on the issues that are impacting your sleep. There are many problems that can cause people to have a lower than average sleep quality, including sleep apnea caused by obesity, consumption of coffee and alcohol, depression and many more. To solve the sleep issue, you need to address the underlying issue, if possible.
If your sleep problem is more vague and doesn’t have a single obvious cause then the best thing you can do is try to eat and drink the right sleep inducing foods, turn your bedroom into a sleep inducing environment and stick to a regular sleep schedule.
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