Sleep and aging

2016-06-03

If at the age of 20 you can look fresh in the morning even after a sleepless night, then with age, lack of sleep affects our health and is clearly reflected on the face: dull skin color, dark circles under the eyes, wrinkles, and in some cases, irritation and eczema.

Beauty comes in dreams

The progressive loss of cellular water is perhaps one of the reasons why sleep deprivation affects the skin more clearly as we age. Moisture retention is the key to maintaining hydrated, supple skin, resulting in fewer wrinkles and a smoother skin surface. Janelle Liu, founder of beauty brand Le Mieux, agrees: “During sleep, cortisol production decreases. This accelerates the production of collagen-1, which strengthens the epidermal and dermal junctions, leading to reduced evaporation and maximizing moisture retention." Conversely, lack of adequate sleep suppresses the immune system, which leads to skin problems. "Perhaps the most important thing you can do for your skin is to simply give yourself some real, long sleep," says Dr. Harold Lenser, a renowned Beverly Hills dermatologist. Indeed, while we bask in the arms of Morpheus, the body is working hard to eliminate all the faults that have arisen during the day, and recharge with new energy and restore its strength. The skin and liver work especially intensively, trying their best to remove harmful substances from the body. In addition, cell division accelerates at night, so cosmetic products and medicinal ointments are especially effective on the skin. A study of the biopotentials of the brain has shown that during sleep, brain cells do a tremendous amount of work, programming the body to heal and overcome any, even the most complex, problems. There is only one condition: sleep must be sound and complete.

We sleep less - we age faster

How long you need to sleep and how much sleep you need is determined individually for each person. Some scientists believe that this need also depends on age. For schoolchildren it is 8–9 hours, for adults 7–8 hours, and for older people the need for sleep is completely reduced to 5–6 hours. But it has been established: people who sleep too little are unbalanced, irritable and get tired quickly.

On average, the ideal number of hours of sleep is 6–8, which is exactly how much time is enough to go through all 5 phases of sleep. Different hormones are responsible for each stage of sleep. For example, the hormones melatonin and prolactin are responsible for slow-wave sleep. Melatonin, which is a powerful antioxidant, begins to be produced in the body as early as ten in the evening and only in a dark room, and is destroyed when light hits the pupil. If there is little melatonin, sleep is short and nervous, with frequent waking up. And with excessive melatonin production, sleep will come quickly, but will still be short and restless. Of course, you can control this process. This is why it is not recommended, for example, to drink coffee at night: the nervous system is excited and the production of melatonin is suppressed.

All endocrine glands work in close connection with each other, and when one hormone “suffers,” it also affects others. In this case, the body reacts immediately, and the aging process occurs much faster.

While the body is in the fourth, deepest phase of rest (often called delta sleep), which transitions into the last, REM phase of sleep, the production of growth hormones increases and “repair” of cells and tissues begins. Insufficient or restless sleep interferes with this important process of strengthening and restoring strength. “Intermittent, restless sleep is very detrimental to skin health,” Lenser adds. – Unfortunately, a slight lack of sleep is considered the norm in our society: everyone works, and sleeping is, they say, just a waste of time... But I tell my patients this: “If you constantly gain one hour from sleep, your life will be shortened by ten years, and the skin will age faster.” Usually this fact has a very sobering effect on them.”

More and more, experts are taking a holistic view of beauty: when skin benefits from adequate sleep, products and treatments work more effectively and produce better results. According to Dr. Lenser, it is impossible to treat the skin as a separate organ - the patient must be treated comprehensively. If the client has dull skin color or dark circles under the eyes, you can hide them with makeup or apply a cold compress for a temporary correction. Or you can pay attention to the cause of these symptoms - lack of sleep.

Sleep therapy

Scientists are inclined to think that sleep is beneficial not only at night, but also during the day.

This approach increases the chances of successfully resisting stress and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, scientists from Greece observed 20 thousand of their compatriots of different ages for six years. Their research showed that among those who took half an hour of sleep during the day at least three times a week, the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases was almost half less than among those who neglected this opportunity. And Harvard doctors came to the conclusion that a 15-minute nap helps increase the degree of information perception by 10–20%.

According to a survey by SpaFinder magazine, 80% of respondents reported difficulty falling asleep or restless dreams. For people with mild sleep deprivation problems, some salons and spas in the US have begun offering "sleep therapy" along with the usual treatments such as massage or facials. “Today, many spa centers and medical clinics provide sleep therapy as one of the important wellness programs. And we predict that in the near future, beauty salons and estheticians will appreciate the benefits of sleep and include the provision of sleep therapy in their services,” says Susie Ellis, president of SpaFinder.

Spa resorts Red Mountain in Utah and Canyon Ranch in Arizona (USA) conduct seminars and programs for getting rid of insomnia. Some spa hotels and health centers offer relaxation injections. High on the list of services offered at Yelo's Manhattan salon is YeloNap, a $15 to $28 treatment in which the client rests for 20 to 40 minutes in a private booth chair that maintains zero gravity; while the LED beams simulate the sunrise for a gentle awakening.

However, in order to achieve uninterrupted sleep and maximize its beauty and restoration potential, clients need to be reminded of a few tricks to help them look their best in the morning: avoid salty foods before bed, remember that moisturizing the skin from the inside is as important as using moisturizer.

To maintain healthy levels of skin hydration, Janelle Liu also recommends taking a complex of essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition, you should avoid pharmaceutical pills for insomnia - this is a temporary shutdown, they do not guarantee proper rest, and many of them are addictive. It is better to use melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body's biological clock. Melatonin exists in our body and, accordingly, is a natural relaxant, has no side effects and allows the body to easily and, most importantly, naturally go through all stages of sleep.

Another method that has become very popular in the United States among successful and educated Americans is the use of nanopatches for effective relaxation in a natural way. Nanotechnology-enhanced patches applied to acupuncture points have become a safe and simple solution for improving sleep quality and promoting health.

Although proper nutrition, water and exercise are important parts of our lives, our body also needs a constant flow of energy. For example, our brain and nerves send signals to our muscles to tell them to use stored chemical energy to contract and relax. In addition, it has long been known that certain frequencies of light cause specific changes in the human body. A person's exposure to the sun helps the body produce vitamin D. UV rays provoke the body to produce melanin, the pigment responsible for sun tanning. Nano-patch technology uses this knowledge to stimulate acupuncture points on our body, influencing which can regulate vital energy. In order to sleep regularly and wake up fresh and rested, you just need to stick the nanopatch, for example, on your right ankle before going to bed. In this way, the quality of life is naturally improved without drugs, sleeping pills or injections, and in the morning you will be surprised by a feeling of vigor and a surge of strength.

And lastly, warn clients about the need to avoid another bad habit of youth - going to bed with makeup on your face. It's important to maintain an evening skin care routine, even if you feel tired, as night creams and serums help your skin recover during sleep.

Thus, the condition of the skin is directly related to sleep. Prolonged lack of sleep leads to premature aging of the skin. During sleep, cell regeneration occurs. Therefore, while taking care of the beauty and youth of your clients’ skin (not forgetting about yourself), recommend that they go to bed on time.

"Sleepy" facts and opinions

The well-known statement that a person spends a third of his life sleeping, plunges many into despondency. Probably, the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci also thought this way, who came up with his own formula for sleep. The author of the Mona Lisa took 15 minutes to sleep every 4 hours. As a result, da Vinci carved out 22.5 hours of wakefulness every day, lengthening his active life.
Peter I only needed three hours to get enough sleep.
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, believed that a man needs 6 hours of sleep, a young man needs 7, and only women and fools need to sleep longer.
An interesting fact has also been established: people who sleep little are usually smarter than those who need much more time to recuperate. But the former usually live less than the latter. In addition, a person who does not sleep at least one night a week is considered to have a very high risk of developing the disease. And there is even a point of view that a woman who spends less than six hours a day sleeping puts herself at great risk of developing breast cancer.
In France, an entire National Academy for the Study of Sleep has been created. The results of research by French scientists have shown that during the day, each person experiences two temperature minimums, a kind of anabiotic state - from 3 to 5 o'clock in the morning and from 13 to 15 o'clock in the afternoon. It is during these periods that we are most inclined to sleep.

This article is part of the special project Global anti-aging

You can read all the articles on this topic:

SPECIAL PROJECT. Global anti-aging

Literature:

Natalia Price – Le Mieux cosmetics (USA).
KOSMETIK international journal, No. 1(39), 2010