Posted November 22, 2013 in Blog
You hear all the time that you shouldn’t skimp on your rest—your mother probably stressed the importance of a good night’s sleep. Now, a first-ever clinical trial conducted at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center (and commissioned by beauty-industry giant Esteé Lauder) confirms what your mother always knew: sleep affects your appearance.
Specifically, a lack of sleep accelerates the age-related changes to the skin. The study showed that poor sleepers showed twice the fine lines, pigmentation issues, and skin laxity as the good sleepers. Sleep-deprived subjects in the trial also showed demonstrated a longer recovery time from stresses to the skin, such as sunburn.
Our skin helps buffer environmental threats to the body. Sleep is truly when the skin restores itself during a process called catabolysis, when the skin cells purge themselves of those nasty free radicals absorbed during the day. This fascinating trial made the news in a variety of outlets; here is an account about the study and here is a longer article about sleep deprivation that references the study as well.
If you’re a poor sleeper and see signs of it on your skin, facial rejuvenation procedures such as microdermabrasion and laser skin resurfacing can reduce or reverse some of the effects of sleep deprivation. We’re happy to discuss your options, so please contact us for a consultation.
