Research on Aging: Sleep Well to Keep Your Skin Young

For the “napsters” among you, whether or not you are missing out on work and activity, you probably are getting more fresh and young-looking. The reason for this is the relation between skin health and sleep.

For years, researchers have been studying the effect sleep can have on one’s skin health and they continue to find a direct relation between the two: more sleep tends to keep your skin healthy and young-looking. In 2009, Beverly Hills dermatologist Dr. Harold Lancer was quoted by the Los Angeles Times, telling how sleep helps the skin stay healthy and fresh by accelerating the production of collagen 1, which in turn maximizes water retention – the key to healthy skin. Important to note that Dr. Lancer used the term “restful sleep” while telling about the topic; the lack of it can damage the immune system, and you get problems like skin rash.

More recently, a study by Dr. Elma Baron’s team looked into the relation between sleep and skin health of 60 pre-menopausal women. They concluded that poor sleep – in terms of quality and duration – does affect the health of skin, and the skin of people having good sleep also recovers more quickly from stressors or damaging factors. This in addition to the finding that poor sleep was moe often than not associated with obesity.

Usually, six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is recommended by health experts to stay healthy, and also keeping your young and fresh-looking skin. Read this article to learn more about sleep and mental health.