5 Ways to Take Your Beauty Sleep to a Whole New Level

This guest blog post was curated for Bucky by Julie Lambert.

Beauty sleep has got its name for a reason.

While you rest, your skin takes time to repair itself. During the REM stage, the blood circulation increases, bringing all the nutrients digested during the day to your body’s organs, including the skin. So, you may actually wake up prettier.

Yet, simply sleeping might not be enough — you should learn to do it the right way in order to take your beauty sleep to a whole new level. And here’s how.

#1 Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep

First things first, you need to get a proper amount of ZZZ’s.

If you think you already do, think twice. Because one in three adult Americans sleeps less than 7 hours per night, and 7 hours is a minimum amount to avoid sleep deprivation.

Not getting enough sleep contributes to inferior skin quality and makes you look older.

So, here’s what you can do to avoid that:

• Track your sleep. Keep a sleep diary, or wear a sleep tracker to determine how much sleep you need to feel refreshed. Once you know the approximate number, stick to it daily.
• Build a routine. Along with knowing your sleep needs, you need to create positive associations with your bedtime. Our brain loves familiar patterns, so by doing the same things every day, you can increase the quality of your sleep and reduce the sleep onset.
• Speed up your drift-off. Today, there are a ton of techniques that can help you fall asleep in less than 60 seconds. Not all of them may turn out to be equally effective for you, of course. But if you’re struggling with insomnia or nighttime anxiety, you should definitely try a few and find the one that really works.

Usually, it takes about a week of following a healthy routine to start noticing the beneficial effects of good sleep. Depending on your current skin condition and some other factors, you can see your skin glowing again quite soon.

#2 Do Your Evening Beauty Routine Properly

Now, just getting enough sleep isn’t enough, even though it’s a huge improvement. Since your skin repairs at night, any makeup leftovers or just dirt particles from the air can slow down this process or even lead to inflammation.

So, be sure to do your evening beauty routine even if you feel completely exhausted. Following the three traditional steps would be enough:

• Cleansing. Removing makeup is a must. Even though the quality of cosmetic products is constantly improving, they still don’t allow your skin to breathe properly and may clog the pores.
• Moisturizing. Cleansing products may leave an unpleasant dry sensation on your skin, especially if it’s initially more prone to dryness. That’s why it’s crucial to restore moisture and lock it inside the skin cells.
• Eating a diverse diet helps boost repairing processes. But it’s not just that. You can help your skin from the outside by applying nourishing creams and oils. Choose non-comedogenic oils to prevent outbreaks and clogged pores.

This three-step routine doesn’t take much time and will work for different types of skin. Still, you can add some steps if you have specific skin conditions.

#3 Choose Natural Materials for Your Bedding Items

Your bed is where you spend one-third of your life, so it can either contribute to your royal glow or trigger acne and poor skin quality.

In both of these scenarios, your bedding is key. Ideally, it should be natural. Natural materials dissipate heat and allow your skin to breathe.

Also, they don’t create static electricity and hence, don’t stimulate the nerves and muscles, which may prevent you from getting proper sleep.

Here are the main recommendations to up your bedding game:

• Replace pillowcases every 1-2 weeks. A pillowcase is an element that gets dirty first. The buildup of dead skin cells makes a good base for bacteria and dust mites that can provoke outbreaks.
• Use silk. Natural silk is the preferred material for the skin. It’s incredibly soft and feels cool. Also, thanks to a smoother feel, silk decreases the friction between the skin and the pillowcase, which helps prevent wrinkles.

However, silk is also the most expensive material. If you cannot afford several silk bedding sets to change them regularly, you can instead opt for soft cotton bedding with a higher thread count. For example, pillow covers like this one will easily withstand multiple washes and remain breathable and soft.

#4 Don’t Skimp On Comfort

To get the most of the beauty benefits of sleep, you need to make your shut-eye as comfortable as possible, which might be challenging if you sleep on an old, saggy mattress.

However, if you aren’t ready to replace it yet, you may as well try these tips to help yourself sleep better:

• Add pillows. Additional pillows under your lower back or between your knees may compensate for sagging and promote better alignment.
• Buy a mattress topper. A mattress topper serves as a comfort layer to your bed and can add more cushioning or make the mattress surface more uniform. Thus, you can increase the comfort of your bed and make your sleep more restorative.

Along with that, you may want to take care of the external factors as well. Loud noise or bright light can disrupt your sleep as easily as an unsupportive bed, so try these tips for dealing with them:

• Wear a sleep mask. It’s an easy way to block the light and sleep soundly. Besides, some masks are designed to contribute to your beauty sleep. For example, the 40 Blinks Sleep mask is made of soft and light fabric and has molded cups that allow you to blink without any discomfort.
• Use a white noise machine. White noise can muffle other sounds and tune down your environment, so you’ll fall asleep more easily. You can buy either a standard white noise generating device or download an app with noise samples.
• Upgrade your windows. Blackout curtains and drapery can block the light and even some amount of noise. Plus, they will add a hint of luxury to your bedroom.

#5 Get Rid of Allergens

You probably hate to read this, but it’s true:

Your home is also a home to different microorganisms and bacterias. Some of them don’t pose any significant threat to you, while others can cause allergies and skin infections.

The most common representative of the second kind is dust mites. In fact, they are the most common allergen in American homes:

84% of households have detectable levels of these creatures inside the bed and furniture.

Dust mite allergy often manifests in the form of skin itch, runny nose, and rashes all over the body.

But don’t worry:

You can deal with them by following a few simple rules.

• wash your bedding regularly;
• use a mattress encasement to prevent dust mites from getting into your mattress;
• aerate your bed and expose it to the sunlight: it helps kill dust mites.

Also, you might want to get an air conditioner that will filter other allergens, such as pollen, and keep your bedroom air much cleaner.

Note that to get the most of your beauty sleep and minimize the chances of developing skin rashes, you need to use hypoallergenic bedding, such as buckwheat pillows or cotton sheets. They tend to trap less dust particles inside, which makes them suitable even for sleepers with overly reactive skin.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Lambert realized the importance of sleep at a very young age, as she was growing up in a home where getting enough z's was great luck. First started as a side interest, studying the science behind sleep soon became her main passion.

*Bucky does not endorse any products or practices suggested by guest bloggers. All ideas and opinions are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Bucky.