@Mary Matsui

Ph.D.  Adjunct professor  Columbia University

Estée Lauder Companies Inc. · R&D

What are two of the best ways you can take care of your skin?  

You already know how damaging exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation can be for your skin, and so you take precautions to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays. You stay in the shade, you wear hats and clothes that shield you, and you use sunscreen, all to prevent premature aging and skin cancer.    

01

Did you know that poor sleeping habits can also damage your skin’s health and appearance?  

Over the past couple of decades, all over the globe, the time spent sleeping has decreased significantly.  A large body of research has shown that chronic sleep deprivation can be linked to medical problems such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and immune deficiency, and recently, the role of sleep in skin functions has been discovered.We now have evidence that over time, poor sleeping habits will increase the signs of aging, such as fine lines and age spots. Inadequate sleep can significantly impact how healthy and youthful you look to others and to yourself.

A good sleep routine can make a huge difference in your feelings of well-being, your overall physical health, and your risk of disease.  Adequate good quality sleep can also help to make sure you look your best; alert and youthful.  

Several studies have now shown that chronic poor sleep is associated with signs of intrinsic (not due to the sun) skin ageing, diminished skin barrier function and lower satisfaction with your appearance. Disruptions in sleep increase the level of stress hormones in your body.

02

So why is sleep so important for your skin, in particular? 

Sleep allows the skin to repair and restore itself in multiple ways. The skin is the largest organ in the human body and has complex interconnected processes that maintain its important role as a barrier to environmental stressors such as sun exposure, dry air, bacteria and chemical toxins.  

The skin contains up to 15% of the body’s water reserves, and hydration of the skin is important not only to appearance but also to skin’s integrity and function.  Several studies suggest that sleep deprivation causes the skin barrier to break down and increase moisture loss through the skin.  This may be more serious than you imagine, because it is known that when the skin gets dehydrated it’s more prone to eczema and other irritation-linked skin conditions.

To investigate this, researchers in one study simulated harsh washing conditions and showed that subjects who were poor sleepers took longer to recover their barrier function after damage than did good sleepers.[1]  

In this same study, poor sleepers showed higher values for uneven pigmentation, fine wrinkling, and skin laxity, all of which are associated with increased skin aging.  Good sleepers recovered from a sunburn more quickly, indicating that repair mechanisms important to skin health were functioning better.  

Sleep quality and duration not only impacts the skin's pigmentation and laxity, but good sleepers  also tended to feel better about the way they looked.[1] Poor sleepers gave worse self-assessment ratings of their own skin and facial appearance when they were compared with good sleepers.

In another study, even after a single night of sleep deprivation where participants were kept up and awake for 36 hours, dark circles and puffiness around the eyes was worse, giving a tired or “saddened” appearance.  

When they were sleep-deprived for just one night, individuals looked sadder than after they had a normal night’s sleep, and this perception of sadness was interpreted as looking fatigued and tired.[2]  

A further study indicated that people are less inclined to interact with a sleep-deprived individual, probably through visual facial clues.[3]Sleep-restricted participants in this study were perceived by other people as less attractive, less healthy and more sleepy.  

Other conditions elsewhere in the body where inflammation is a factor have long been known to be influenced by lack of sleep.  When it comes to the skin, that now appears to be true as well.  A study by researchers in Guang Zhou on acne in Chinese adolescents found that insufficient sleep was a significant risk factor for acne. [4]

Other, more serious skin conditions are known to be affected by sleep patterns.  Sleep debt (chronic poor sleep) and stress can trigger or exacerbate atopic dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, and eczema. [5] 

And, speaking of poor sleep patterns, many researchers are describing how the circadian clock, the master time keeper of daily rhythms that regulates all the activities in your body and controls all your organs, also regulates your skin.

Circadian rhythms are fluctuations in biological activity that occur within an approximately 24-hour period (not all processes have only one cycle during this period, but may go up and down several times in a consistent, regular pattern).

This biological timekeeper picks up on signals given by light and dark (day and night), melatonin, physical activity, and by the routine of eating meals at consistent times during the day.  Skin temperature, hydration and pH are all regulated by this internal timekeeper.[6]  

By disrupting the natural diurnal variation of such important processes, abnormally-timed sleep and food intake may contribute to the development of skin problems.

Following the normal, healthy internal time-keeper means that your skin schedules optimum repair time during the night.  Other examples of natural diurnal rhythms include the fact that you are more likely to have an allergic reaction in the morning rather than late in the day.

Production of new skin cells is highest at midnight and lowest at noon.  Following a standard day-night routine, oil production in the skin is twice as high at noon as it is at 2am.  Animals lacking normal circadian rhythms in skin stem cells age prematurely, suggesting that these cyclical patterns can protect against cellular damage.

As part of this internal clock, the skin makes new collagen while you sleep, a repair process that prevents skin sagging. Getting only 5 hours of sleep per night will decrease the time your skin has to do this, so this “short” sleep can lead to an increase in wrinkles and sagging.  And cutting your sleep time down like this can also lead to drier skin due to decreases in the skin’s barrier function.  

03

How do you know if you are getting enough sleep?  

In 2018, two reports from the Chinese Sleep Research Society said that 50 to 60 million Chinese are troubled by sleep disorders and that 56% of Chinese internet users think they have sleep issues.

In 2013, Chinese Medical Doctors Association surveyed 260,000 white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and reported that only 23% said they “sleep well” or get “good sleep”.  Sixty per cent of people born after 1990 in China are not getting enough sleep, with worries about work and careers among the main factors disturbing their slumber. China’s National Sleep Day occurs every March 21st. The National Sleep Foundation has recommended that people from 18-64 years of age get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per day.

Unfortunately, in this digital age, being able to “get by” on little sleep has become a badge of honor.  Our current practice of sleeping less is largely driven by societal changes, including increased reliance on longer work hours and shift work, the trend for longer commute times, and increased accessibility to media of all sorts.  Overuse of electronic devices, such as smartphones, is an important factor significantly affecting sleep.  Blocking the blue light emitted by mobile devices has been shown to improve sleep quality. [7]

04

How do you go about getting adequate sleep in order to take care of yourself and your skin?

1. Establish a routine.  Get up and go to bed at roughly the same time every day.

2. Remove distractions from your bedroom, including TVs, computers, office or personal finance work.

3. Exercise more during the day but do not exercise strenuously in the evening.

4. Don’t smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or caffeine in the evening—even though you may get to sleep, you likely will not stay asleep.

5. Keep your bedroom dark when it’s time to sleep. If necessary, use sleep/eye masks to block out light.  Darkness stimulates the nightly production of melatonin, the hormone necessary to regulate our day/night, sleep/wake cycles.

6. Stop using all mobile devices an hour or more before you want to sleep or apply a blue-light blocker to the device.

So, remember to restore and repair:  better sleep means better skin, so be sure to get your beauty sleep!

1. Oyetakin-White, P., et al., Does poor sleep quality affect skin ageing? Clin Exp Dermatol, 2015. 40(1): p. 17-22.

2. Sundelin, T., et al., Cues of fatigue: effects of sleep deprivation on facial appearance. Sleep, 2013. 36(9): p. 1355-60.

3. Sundelin, T., et al., Negative effects of restricted sleep on facial appearance and social appeal. R Soc Open Sci, 2017. 4(5): p. 160918.

4. Wu, T.Q., et al., Prevalence and risk factors of facial acne vulgaris among Chinese adolescents. Int J Adolesc Med Health, 2007. 19(4): p. 407-12.

5. Walia, H.K. and R. Mehra, Overview of Common Sleep Disorders and Intersection with Dermatologic Conditions. Int J Mol Sci, 2016. 17(5).

6. Yosipovitch, G., et al., Time-dependent variations of the skin barrier function in humans: transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum hydration, skin surface pH, and skin temperature. J Invest Dermatol, 1998. 110(1): p. 20-3.

7. Mortazavi, S.A.R., et al., Blocking Short-Wavelength Component of the Visible Light Emitted by Smartphones' Screens Improves Human Sleep Quality. J Biomed Phys Eng, 2018. 8(4): p. 375-380.