Are bad sleeping habits contributing to your acne?

Most of us either don't get enough sleep, or don't get very good quality sleep

We've all heard the phrase "beauty sleep", but chances are that we never paid it much mind. Well, it turns out that sleep really is quite important for the health of your skin, and can even play a role in combating acne.

One way that sleep can help is by lowering your stress levels. Stress is a contributing factor to acne, and your body is better able to manage stress when you are well rested. Lack of sleep can leave you feeling stressed out, and your skin looking worse as a result. So if acne is stressing you, sleep on it! But the benefits don't stop there.

 

Your body is best able to heal while you areasleep

Contrary to what you might think, your body gets a lot accomplished while you're sleeping, and one of those things is tissue repair. Many acne sufferers choose the time before bed to attack their face, confident that the redness and irritation will have diminished by the following morning. While that's not at all recommended, it is true that the appearance of minor scars and inflammation is usually reduced, and that's because sleep is the time when your body is most efficient at healing your skin

Without enough sleep, your skin won't get a chance to properly heal and repair, and acne blemishes will end up looking worse and lasting longer.

So how much sleep is enough? Well, the optimal is to get 8 hours of sleep everynight. It's said that adults can get by fine with 6 hours, but if you have acne, just "getting by" isn't enough. You need a full 8 hours to allow your skin time to repair and rejuvenate.

Not all sleep is equal

You've read my acne tip about consistency, right? Well that applies here. Your body likes to keep things predictable, including your sleep pattern. If you are sleeping erratically, going to bed and getting up at different times throughout the week, getting 4 hours of rest one night and 10 hours the next, etc - chances are you're going to feel tired throughout the day, and your skin is not going to be healing as well as it should. The answer is not to drink more coffee. To get good quality sleep, your nightlypattern needs to be consistent. That means letting your body fall into a natural, healthy rhythm.

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