Phenomenal Sleep for the Best Health Part 2: The Ultimate Guide to Beauty Sleep

Tired of looking tired every morning?

Want to use less makeup and allow more of your natural beauty to shine through? The secret to beauty is sleep! Earlier and more sleep hours have shown to improve looks upon waking up and makes one even appear more attractive to others. How does this work? Research suggests, “people were rated by strangers as less healthy and approachable when they had tired faces.” And even naps, something that I am a proponent of, can help decrease wrinkles and dark under eye circles.

Beauty sleep is not a myth or a made-up fairy tale.

It’s as real as it gets. So, do we all need 8 hours or more of sleep a night to achieve it? There has been a lot of debate around this, with groups like the National Sleep Foundation increasing the desired hours of sleep to between 7 to 9 hours per night. My view is that if you are consistently getting less than 7 hours, then changes and shifts need to be made to get adequate beauty sleep. If you want to wake up looking better, feeling sexier and prettier, you must get to bed earlier. If you are rising at 5 am, try going to bed at 9 pm. This means you start prepping for bed (no blue light in the bedroom, a small, soothing cup of chamomile tea) around 7:30 or so.

I’ve never been one to wear a ton of makeup in part, because I don’t know how to apply it (I LOVE the YouTube videos of creative makeup artists!). But I also enjoy the freedom of not having to wear it. Sure, genetics play a role, but it doesn’t do it all.

Beauty and attractiveness start from the inside, and getting great sleep is a vital key element.

What can you do to get more beauty rest? Create a sleep sanctuary in the bedroom, use a silk eye mask or sleep on a silk pillowcase, use soft colors, plants that give off good oxygen like Aloe Vera, and use aromatherapy like lavender or roman chamomile to set the sleep mood and make you feel beautiful.