We joke about needing our beauty sleep, but that may be more accurate than we know. When we don’t have enough sleep, it shows in our bodies and on our skin. The most evident signs of lack of sleep are the dark circles and bags under our eyes. Other evidences take a little longer to appear, like dull skin and limp, lifeless hair.
Our bodies need seven to eight hours of sleep every day. Too little sleep harms our bodies; but then again, so does too much sleep. What’s more, sleep is cumulative. You miss your sleep tonight and it shows on you tomorrow. You miss your sleep tomorrow night, and you will feel the effects of two nights without proper sleep. Continue along this path and you will have sleep deficit, which will lead to the effects listed above.
It’s not uncommon with our busy schedule to miss sleeping a full eight hours every night. It’s when we don’t get our full eight hours that we need our beauty rest, a power nap, in the afternoon, particularly around eight hours after you’ve woken up. It seems the natural thing to do, anyway. You must have observed it with your own body – we generally get drowsy in the afternoon, around eight hours after we have been awake.
A good power nap lasts for around fifteen to thirty minutes. According to research, taking power naps in the afternoon have more benefits for the body than taking an extra hour of sleep in the morning. The rest that the body gets from power naps greatly reduces stress and improves the cognitive powers of the mind.
Some people complain that they feel groggy after taking naps. That’s why it’s recommended to take naps that don’t last more than thirty minutes. The longer our naps take, the deeper our sleep gets and the harder it is to wake up. Taking a beauty sleep not only makes us beautiful, but more importantly, it keeps our bodies and minds healthy, alert and awake.
If your schedule only allows you, say, five minutes for a nap, take it. Five minutes is better than nothing. Just closing your eyes gives you enough rest to get you through the day. If you do not want to oversleep, set an alarm.
To make the most of your most recuperative nightly sleep, avoid consuming caffeine after 3 PM. Caffeine stays in the system for four to six hours and keeps your body stimulated for that length of time. If your body is awake, you can’t sleep or sleep well.
Because the skin is the body’s largest organ, it depends on sleep to stay healthy and strong. Without proper sleep, your skin is more prone to breakouts, rashes and eczema because it’s less able to withstand environmental irritants and daily dirt and makeup build up.
