Beauty Sleep

After a busy day at work, you finally get to leave and relax. You decide to have a nice dinner, take a nice hot bath to wash away the fatigue, and as someone who values skincare, you don't forget to elevate your legs before bed to reduce swelling from standing or sitting for long periods. Then, you apply a face mask to replenish the moisture in your dry skin after a whole day in air-conditioned rooms, allowing the moisturizing essence to be absorbed throughout the night and restore your skin's elasticity. I think this is a routine for many women every night.

But... you know, skincare can actually be very simple; all you need is a good night's sleep.

A 2015 US study has supported the link between sleep and beauty. The study invited 60 healthy women aged 30 to 50 to be divided into a good quality group (sleep duration of 7 to 9 hours) and a poor quality group (sleep duration of less than 5 hours) based on their sleep duration and quality over the past month. Clinical instruments were used to measure these women’s internal and external facial skin age, dark circles, skin recovery after stimulation, and recovery of sunspots exposed to ultraviolet rays. They also rated their attractiveness.

The results showed that the high-quality group had a significantly younger internal facial skin age compared to the low-quality group, with less uneven pigmentation, fine lines, and subcutaneous fat loss. They also showed better recovery of sunspots the day after sun exposure. Measurements three days later also showed that the high-quality group had 30% higher skin recovery than the low-quality group in terms of recovery from external stimuli, and they perceived themselves to have higher appearance attractiveness (Note 1).

You might ask, "So, do I still need to do a daily skincare routine? Does that mean skincare products won't help improve my skin?"

Well... this question cannot be answered in this study. The study did not investigate whether the types of skincare products used or the amount of time spent on daily skincare among the participating women would affect the age of their skin. The purpose was to remind people not to ignore the most basic issue of sleep before believing in the magical effects of cosmetics.

So stop spending a lot of money on cosmetics and skincare products, and stop believing the advertising claims that sleeping only one hour a day can keep your skin young and supple. Getting too close will only reveal your skin's age!

For the sake of your wallet—I mean, for the sake of your skin health—put down your phone and turn off the TV now, go to bed early, and don't let staying up late accelerate your skin's aging. Getting enough sleep and feeling refreshed can also be a beauty treatment!

Note 1: Oyetakin-White, P., Suggs, A., Koo, B., Matsui, MS, Yarosh, D.,…Baron, ED (2015). Does poor sleep quality affect skin ageing? Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 40(1), 17–22.

Zhou Jiarong, Clinical Psychologist, Shuanghe Hospital