If your daily bedtime is scheduled after 11 pm, prepare to be alarmed. This unhealthy habit may be adding years to your skin and hair (uh oh, you’d want crystal clear skin like Rebecca Lim, don’t you?)! But we understand the struggle. With the global shift towards late night productivity, we’re all synonymous with hitting the bed past midnight.
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We often hear about celebrities who swear by beauty sleep as their secret to beautiful skin and hair. While some of us may term ‘beauty sleep’ as bimbo lingo, there’s actually a science behind it (find out our beauty writer’s quick skincare routine)! And it’s not as easy as getting just seven to eight hours of sleep. Turns out, your beauty sleep can only take place if you sleep by 11 pm.
Skin and scalp specialist Geoff Wright says that our body clock has set timings where our skin and scalp systems hydrate and stimulate themselves from 8 pm to 11 pm daily while the crucial time between 11 pm to 3 am is reserved for nutrition and regeneration. This process of regenerating old cells to new cells can only take place at night, during your sleep (top that before sleep routine up with these skincare gels). So start getting ready for bed soon after 10.30pm to let your hair and skin cells rebuild and repair themselves! All you have to do is to relax and drift off to dreamland- your body will do the rest.
Do you find it hard to fall asleep (we gift you six tips on how to fall asleep easily)? According to Dr Kulreet Chaudhary, the hormone melatonin is produced by bodies to prepare us for a good night’s sleep. The higher the melatonin levels, the sleepier we feel. Try keeping your gadgets away at night as the light from your phones or laptop hampers the production of melatonin, making it harder for us to fall asleep! Also, avoid eating huge meals for supper or dinner as your body then becomes occupied with digesting the food instead of allowing you to have a restful sleep. So grab your phone and set a reminder for you to sleep before 11 pm. This is by far the easiest and cheapest solution for healthy skin and hair (oh, and don’t forget these sleeping masks)!
This story first appeared on Shape 4th July 2017.