There’s a reason it’s called beauty sleep. Those extra ZZZ’s make all the difference
when it comes to not only your appearance, but also your health.
I’ve previously touched on my mental
illnesses in other non-related posts, but for those of you who are new here,
Hi, I’m Melissa and I’m totally nuts.
Just kidding. I have PTSD that
manifests as depression, anxiety and mild obsessive compulsive behaviour. My depression and anxiety, in turn, manifest
in sleep issues. Before I was given
medication to help, I suffered from frequent night terrors, sleep paralysis and
sleep walking. My meds help to keep me
asleep and now I only have really long conversations in my sleep.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I may not have consciously woken up
from my episodes, but I woke up each morning completely unrested. The bags under my eyes were definitely not
Chanel. I was drained – my skin was
sallow and breaking out. Finally, the
flesh reflected the madness within (10 points to your house if you caught that
one). I looked old.
Let’s talk science-y things for a
moment to understand why beauty sleep is all it’s cracked up to be. When we sleep, our bodies go into repair
mode. Cells are replaced and our bodies
even produce more collagen, which means that that extra hour of sleep is one
less fine line to worry about. Fun fact
of the day: hours you spend sleeping before midnight count as double, so
there must some truth to the old “Early to bed, early to rise” saying.
These are a few tricks I use (over and
above my meds, obviously) to have the best sleep possible every night:
- Stop
drinking coffee and tea (excluding herbals) after 6pm. I am a devout tea drinker and it absolutely
kills me to not have a cup after gym each night, but that desperation is by far
outweighed by the better quality sleep I’m having every night.
- By extension, hang back on all the liquids after about 7 or 8pm (depending on when you plan on going to sleep). Nothing disrupts sleep quite like an impatient bladder or that freezing cold run to the toilet in winter.
- Essential
oils are great if you feel that you battle to switch off at night. A drop or two of lavender oil in your night
time bath resets your brain to sleep mode (Like this one from Dischem for
R64.95. If you’re not a bathing person, Oh So
Heavenly Beauty Sleep Wish Upon A Star Pillow Mist (R27.95 from Clicks) is the
perfect alternative – just give your pillow a little spritz before you get into
bed and you’re A for Away to dreamland.
- Hello,
Darkness, my old friend. I won’t lie,
the first few times I slept with a sleeping mask it was not great. One time, I had a sleep walking episode (of
sorts) where in my dream I threw myself into a ditch to avoid getting hit by a
train and IRL I threw myself off my bed, bruising my hip quite badly. That, however, was not nearly as frightening
as the fact that I could not figure out why I could see nothing as I slowly
came round because of the sleep mask I had on.
But don’t worry, you get used to it.
Typo, Claire’s and Sorbet (at Clicks) have some of the cutest sleeping
masks that will not scare the crap out of a friend during a sleepover when they
roll over and look into a potentially dark void where your face should be.
- Put.
The. Phone. Down. And for the love of
all that is good in the universe, do not play games like Candy Crush or Disney
Emoji Blitz (my personal favourite) right before bed. Puzzle-solving games stimulate your brain, so
if you’re going to aim for that next level just before bed, you are not going
to sleep well. Rather swop it out for a
book or magazine.
- Don’t check your messages in the dark. I know that when I get those middle of the night messages and I’ve been expecting something (you know, like your salary to clear at midnight) that light is bright enough to melt your retinas into the dark recesses of your brain. A little too dramatic? Ok, let’s be smart about it. Your phone emits “blue” light which tells your brain that it’s morning, not sleep time. If you want to read more about that, here’s the link to the article I read this in: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-smartphones-are-ruining-our-sleep/385792/
Let’s not also forget how a good
night’s sleep makes us feel. You’re more
likely to wake up in a good mood, which means your personality is going to be
as pretty as your face (let’s never forget the importance of that!)
I would love to know if you try out
any of these tips and how they work for you.
Don’t forget to connect with me on my social media.
Love and light ♡♡♡