I’ve never had trouble sleeping. Not to brag, but I can literally sleep anywhere. On the bus, on the train, folded up on stairs (don’t ask). But I didn’t realize until I was in my 30s how important the quality of my sleep was to my mind, body, and beauty goals. Beauty sleep, folks, is real. And if you’re not getting quality sleep, you won’t get the same benefits in terms of great looking skin or thriving nails and hair. Lack of sleep doesn’t give you a fresh look on your face. We all know that the body regenerates with sleep, and that skin, hair, and nails are all part of the glow you get from getting the right amount of light, REM, and deep sleep.
“Lack of sleep increases cortisol,” says Dr. Sarah Zal Gottfried, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Hormone Cure and medical advisor to OURA Ring. “We all know that lack of sleep contributes to bags and sometimes dark circles under the eyes.”
Worryingly, she adds that poor quality sleep can also “cause pale skin, fine lines, droopy eyelids, and bloodshot/puffy eyes due to increased immune activity and inflammation.” Sounds awful. And if stress is keeping you up, the effects on your skin are even more pronounced. “Your skin is a window into your stress levels,” she says. “Excessive levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone, can cause your skin to produce more oil, resulting in stress breakouts, increased blood flow to the skin causing redness, and the breakdown of elastin and collagen leading to sagging and loss of volume.”
After going through a particularly stressful, sleepless period (I don’t recommend breaking up and starting a new job in the same week, FYI), I combined all my favorite sleep-inducing products to aim for the most restful fourth quarter ever. By tracking my sleep with my OURA ring (a game-changer) and following a thoughtful routine, I noticed the biggest difference in both my latency score (how long it takes me to fall asleep) and the percentage of deep vs. REM sleep (the most restorative sleep stage). To boost the benefits of better sleep, I enhanced my pre-bedtime routine with an overnight treatment, and radiant, dewy skin awaited…
Take a break
Whether you take a bath or shower, take some time to relax in the bathroom, especially if you’ve had a busy day, before you head off to bed. You don’t have to take an hour-long bath, just a 20-minute shower or a long soak. Ingredients like magnesium and lavender can help calm your mind before bed.
OTO Sleep Soundly Bath & Body Oil
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Credit: OTONeom Wellbeing Perfect Night’s Sleep Magnesium Bath Milk Credit: NEOMAromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Bath and Shower Oil Credit: Aromatherapy AssociatesSpace NK Nordic Wilds Body Duo Credit: Space NK
The Best Bedtime Rituals – Go Deeper with Essential Oils
I find essential oils are great for improving my mood. Depending on the time of day, I’ll inhale them through breathing exercises, rub them on pulse points, or massage them into my shoulders and back before a shower, letting the scent waft around my tiny bathroom.
“Typically, people know that there are essential oils that are calming or relaxing, but some have a deeper effect, such as acting via the sense of smell in the limbic system of the brain on the pineal and pituitary glands to balance hormones that help with sleep,” says Farida Irani, founder of Subtle Energies.
Sleep Easy Nasya Oil 15ml
Bedtime beauty accessories
Getting ready for bed doesn’t just involve pajamas. My beauty sleep depends as much on the accessories I wear to bed as my cocktail party outfit depends on the jewelry I pair it with. Without the accessories, it just doesn’t have the same effect. I sleep with a head scarf every night so my hair is easy to manage. I protect my eyes with a padded mask and sleep with a silk pillowcase every night. I’m like the pea and the princess and I don’t give a damn.
DROWSY Silk Sleep Mask Credit: DrowsySlip Pure Silk Pillowcase Credit: SlipOnly Curls Satin Sleep Turban – Dusty Rose
An essential item for your nighttime beauty routine
While you don’t need to do any “morning shed” level beauty prep before you go to sleep, it’s not a bad idea to give your skin, hair, and nails a little help during the regeneration process…
hair
If you have long hair, treating the ends with a serum, along with a headscarf or silk pillowcase, can help prevent chafing and split ends. However, this is only to prevent split ends and breakage of already dead hair, it does not affect hair growth. To really care for your new overnight hair, you should also treat your scalp with a serum or tonic, especially if you have an itchy or irritated scalp.
Kerastase Nutritive Nutri-Supplement Split End Serum for dry hair and split ends
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Credit: Kerastase
Act + Acre Daily Hydro Scalp Serum
Hands and nails
I hate having my cuticles cut at the nail salon, but after neglecting at-home care for so long, the technician has to trim my raggedy nail beds at every appointment. To help him out, I now keep cuticle oil and hand cream next to my bed and apply it last before turning off the lights. I love letting the Necessaire The Hand Retinol soak in overnight and then drifting off to sleep for 40 minutes while it tones down my wrinkled skin and nail beds.
Hand Retinol
skin
I’m going to leave this here: I now have the perfect PM routine sorted.
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Eyelashes and eyebrows
I’ve seen great results from consistently using eyelash and brow serums every night. I apply the serum right after my skincare routine and before I brush my teeth so it can penetrate before my face hits the pillow.
Uklash eyelash serum 3ml
Revitalash Revitabrow Advanced Eyebrow Serum
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Keix Reid is Beauty Director at Cosmopolitan UK. With a love for all things beauty, Keix is a hair fanatic through and through. She began her career in beauty journalism in 2013 as an editorial assistant at Black Hair and Hair magazine, working her way up to Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Black Hair magazine at the age of 23. She has spent the majority of her career working in beauty industry media including Hairdresser’s Journal, Salon International and the British Hairdressing Awards, which is why she is a regular contributor to Cosmo’s Curl Up franchise. Aside from her work at Cosmo, Keix now presents and creates content on social media, working with a range of beauty companies from magazines and websites to beauty brands and salons.
