Are You Sleeping Enough? It Could Be Affecting Your Skin

Sleep is the great purveyor of GREAT skin because this is when your body repairs itself. Consistently getting too little sleep affects your overall health and of course your skin. HOW CAN SLEEP SAVE YOUR SKIN AND WHAT CAN YOU DO. Are You Living In Sleep Debt? According to Donna Arand, Ph.D., clinical director of Sleep Disorders Center at Kettering Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, "Consistently skimping on sleep for a week or two can have the same impact on your mood and performance as missing two full nights of sleep". Additional effects compound quickly as you can began to feel stressed, anxious, can cause hormonal changes and surprisingly lead to weight gain. Stress alone can have a negative impact on your skin but adding all of the different elements that occur due to sleep deprivation can leave you with less than flawless skin. Sleep Helps Replenish The body repairs itself at nighttime by restoring lost energy and rebuilding body tissue and cells. Cell turnover for the skin means improved overall texture, better elasticity and firmness thus giving your skin a fresh glow. Improving your sleeping patterns will reward you with more energy and mental stability and great looking skin. The concept of "Beauty Sleep" as you can see is NOT an old wives' tale. Go on a sleep bender Try to catch up on your sleep over the weekend in order to recover any loss sleep. Anyone that has done this will attest to feeling more energized and will have noticed an improvement on her skin. Create a sleep friendly environment Many of us have become media crazed with blackberries, iPads, laptops and the mandatory TV in the bedroom. Eliminate one or all of them by a certain time and this will start the process of relaxation and signal your body for beddie bye. Don't Smoke Because cigarettes and other tobacco products are stimulants, they lead to poor sleep. (Another reason to avoid them: cigarettes are bad for your skin, causing dehydration and wrinkles.) Skip Caffeine The effects of caffeine can last up to 12 hours and cause you to become dehydrated, loss of moisture in the skin leads to wrinkles. On the other hand, a cup of decaf tea before bed can promote relaxation. Sleeping can be one of your best weapons in your beauty arsenal and the lifestyle choices you make can create the type of skin you always wanted. Taking control of what those choices are might NOT necessarily be easy but YOU can do it AND you can always start with ONE. As always I look forward to seeing you at Joanna Vargas Salon, Skin Care Sanctuary in New York City, where we can help you tweak your skin care routine to give you the skin you always wanted. Call NOW for your appointments at 212/949.2350. Sincerely, JOANNA VARGAS Joanna Vargas Skin Care Forward email]>>