The Key to Beauty is a Good Nights Rest
By: Joel Mark
There are many reasons why we don't get enough sleep at night, some of them being the temperature, a noisy neighborhood, or even a restless partner, but sleep is a very important factor in keeping yourself looking sharp. After all, it isn't called beauty sleep for nothing.
The Benefits of Taking Naps
According to a recent study at Loma Linda University, taking three 30-minute naps a week could lower your chance of heart-related death by 37%. Taking a quick 10-minute nap will immediately refresh your brain, making you more alert for whatever business you need to focus on. Taking a 30-minute nap will fight off fatigue and improve your reaction time and mental performance for up to 2 hours. However, taking over a 45-minute nap could cause one to enter their deep sleep cycle, which will create more fatigue than they felt before the nap.
Substances to Avoid in the Evening
The intake of caffeine and alcohol can really stimulate your body to produce hormones that prevent sleep. After a while though, these substance can make you crash. The crash is unnatural and will not allow you to enter your correct sleep cycle. Try to avoid drinks with high amounts of caffeine or alcohol at least four hours before you expect to go to sleep. Doing so will allow you to sleep deeper, without your body working to fight off the negative effects from these substances.
Cigarettes work in a similar way. They decrease the production of sleep promoting agents in your brain. Without these agents, you will take longer to fall asleep, stir in the night, and sleep less deeply. Stay away from cigarettes in the evenings to enjoy a better sleep.
Make Time to Play in the Sun
Exposure to sunlight during the day can make you more energetic, and helps regulate your circadian rhythms. Having a well-regulated circadian rhythm is very important to a better night's sleep. Adopting a fixed sleeping pattern helps one fall asleep quicker and wake up looking their best.
Sleep Deprivation Causes Multiple Health Issues
Women should achieve between 8-10 hours of sleep each night to be at their best performance. Women who received on average 6 or less hours of sleep each night are four times more likely to have hypertension, diabetes, or become obese. Lack of sleep over a period of time can weaken your immune system, retard cognitive functions and even slow metabolism.
...Including Obesity
When you are sleep deprived, you become sluggish, and in turn are not as active so your metabolism slows in multiple ways. Prolonged sleep deprivation leads to the lowering of leptin and increased production of ghrelin. Leptin is an appetite suppressing hormone, opposite of ghrelin, which is an appetite stimulating hormone. This causes many sleep deprived women to put on weight.
Why it's Really Called Beauty Sleep
Sleeping for even 6 or 7 hours a night is not enough. A full 8 hours are needed to avoid the production of cortisol, which is a hormone that breaks down collagen - the main structural protein in facial skin. Therefore producing cortisol from not getting enough sleep causes wrinkles. Lying on your back alone can help prevent creases around your eyes, so why not do it for 8 hours? Take the time to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night and before long you'll be looking slimmer, healthier, and more alert, while also being at the top of your game mentally.
Author Bio: Joel Mark is an online author who is passionate about basketball, weight training & fitness. When he's not outside exercising, he studies a lot about health and nutrition, which runs the gamut from sleep apnea treatment to nutrition.
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