. . . recent study investigates the possible link between sleep deprivation and skin aging

Chronic sleep deprivation has reached epidemic proportions worldwide.

In the U.S. alone, estimates suggest up to 70 million adults are sleep deprived. We’ve already revealed a number of ways poor sleep adversely affects our lives, from relationships and safety to commuting in traffic and job performance. Plus, multiple studies have linked a lack of good quality sleep to significant health problems…including cancer, obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and immune suppression. Here too, we show some of the most common causes of insomnia and how kids are especially vulnerable to sleep deprivation.

Now, scientists say lack of sleep affects our skin health, making us look older than our years.

Previously, scientists have shown that getting adequate restful sleep is critical in building and repairing the body’s immune and physiological systems. While our skin protects us from external stressors like environmental toxins and sun-induced DNA damage, researchers wanted to see what—if any—effect sleep quality had on skin function and appearance.

First evidence poor quality sleep ages your skin prematurely

In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, Dr. Elma Baron, Director of the Skin Study Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, and her team of physician-scientists enrolled 60 women age 30-49 in the study.

Using a standard questionnaire and sleep log, researchers assigned half the women to the poor quality sleep category. Then, they put participants through a variety of non-invasive skin challenge tests—including exposure to UV light and moisture loss—and visually evaluated their skin. The research team scored participants on skin health using the SCINEXA skin aging scoring system.

What did they find?

Sleep deprivation—or poor quality sleep—accelerates signs of skin aging and reduces the skin’s ability to repair itself. In fact, low quality sleepers scored twice as poorly, showing greater signs of intrinsic skin aging, including fine lines, inconsistent skin coloration, skin slackening, and reduced elasticity.

While researchers saw no significant difference between groups for signs of extrinsic aging—like course wrinkles and freckles associated primarily with sun exposure—good quality sleepers recovered much more efficiently from all stressors to the skin, including sunburn. Those who got better sleep also showed greater protective ability of their skin against moisture loss.

“Our study is the first to conclusively demonstrate that inadequate sleep is correlated with reduced skin health and accelerates skin aging. Sleep deprived women show signs of premature skin aging and a decrease in their skin’s ability to recover after sun exposure,” said Dr. Baron, who is also Associate Professor of Dermatology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Study shows the health effects of sleep deprivation aren’t just skin deep

Compared to their counterparts, poor quality sleepers didn’t just perform worse on the study’s skin tests. Using Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements, researchers showed poor quality sleepers were nearly twice as likely (44%) to be obese as those who got good sleep (23%).

But the bad news didn’t end there. Their self-esteem also took a hit when they reported a significantly lower opinion of their own skin and facial appearance.

With this study, science is once again proving that good quality of sleep is an important component of overall health, including skin function and appearance.

Here’s how to get better sleep

No one should have to suffer from sleep deprivation, or any number of its related health issues, including skin aging. Because it simply works, we strongly recommend supplementing your diet as a first step to improving the quality of your sleep.

Both calcium and magnesium help the body to relax. In fact, we have had good luck using magnesium to help many people with insomnia. The B vitamins, N-acetyl carnitine, and phosphatidyl serine also help promote quality sleep. 

While many people report great success using melatonin safely and effectively for inducing sleep, here are a few more tips we recommend for getting better sleep at night.

• Change your diet. Eliminating sugary foods and drinks, wheat, dairy, alcohol, and caffeine are always a good idea, but especially right before bed. Identifying and eliminating hidden food allergies—as well as food chemicals like MSG, aspartame, and other excitotoxins from your diet—often resolves sleep issues.
• Take a warm bath or shower to relax before bed. Add some Epsom salt to further ease your muscles.
• Turn off electronics—including but not limited to cell phones, TV, stereos, computer, and tablets—at least 60 minutes before bed. All electronics—even alarm clocks—emit electromagnetic fields (EMFs) that disrupt sleep and cause disease.
• Gently exercise before bedtime. We recommend some light rebounding right before going to bed. Just be sure your heart rate has a chance to return to normal before crawling into bed.
• Meditate immediately before bed. This practice of clearing your mind to soft music or spoken words can relax you enough to fall asleep.

If you’ve got additional tips on getting better sleep—or have a story on how better sleep made your skin look, feel, or perform better