beauty

Beauty Sleep

Jan 10, 2019 sarah w

Sleeping Beauty by watereverysunday

Are you a sleepyhead or sleeping beauty?

As we all know, sleeping does more than just dreaming and resting at night. Equally important as waking life, sleeping is not only a basic bodily function but also a time for our body cells to actively repair and regenerate for better tomorrow. In fact, we spent almost of half of our lifetime unconsciously in this stage but our mind and body are still actively working hard during these hours. Therefore, it is important that you provide as best sleep conditions as possible to help our body to do its work during our sleep.

That said, the popular saying 'a beauty is a sleepyhead' is somewhat true. Yes, getting enough and good sleep indeed does good to your skin and health and so does promote beauty. However, having a good and enough sleep doesn't mean oversleeping (sleepyhead). Actually it does no good when if your sleep cycles are disrupted and you ended waking up groggy and feeling more tired.

Therefore, finding an ideal sleep length, time and pattern is very important for your well being and beauty overall.

8.5 Hours is new ideal sleep hours... so snooze, or lose!

Apart from the established belief of the ideal 8 hours of daily night sleep, our current day busy lives, pollution and stress require more hours of sleeping for resting and recouping. 8.5 hours and more is the new norm and ideal sleep hours now.

Other than the length of sleep, quality of sleep is also important. If you sleep longer hours but wake up feeling tired, probably you are not having a sound sleep, such as waking up in the middle of the night or sleeping light. Therefore, examine and identify what is preventing you from having a good night sleep and correct the issues to improve the sleep. For example, as simple as firmness of mattress & pillow, noise, humidity, temperature and others in the bedroom could be the ones affect the quality of your sleep.

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Can't Fall Asleep?

Mostly because you are over worried and can't stop the train of thoughts. Rather than counting sheeps, try some breathing exercise. When you are relaxed and away from other thoughts, we become relaxed and our breathing becomes slower and this is how we fall asleep.

During sleep or light meditation our brain wave is one of the slowest, theta wave (4-7.5Hz) compared to the waking life's beta wave (14-40Hz). Therefore, slow breathing exercise is design to induce theta wave for us to fall asleep. 4-7-8 breathing technique is a well known exercise for this and quite effective.

Image: Somnox Blog

"The following methods are effective for helping you fall asleep and improving sleep quality."

4-7-8 breathing technique:

First start by completely exhaling thru your mouth with whooshing noise, quietly inhale thru your nose for a mental count of four with your mouth closed. Hold your breath to a mental count of seven. Slowly whooshing exhale thru your mouth to a mental count of eight. Repeat this for about 8 minutes or so until you fall asleep. As you repeat this, try to lengthen the each count and slow down your breath even more if can.

Listen to Music for Sleep:

Try music designed specifically for sleep. It helps you relax, fall asleep, and achieve deep, sound sleep, allowing your body to repair and renew while you rest. Look for music with theta and delta brain waves. Theta waves, one of the slower frequency waves, help you fall into light sleep and REM cycles, while delta waves, the slowest frequency, are essential for deep sleep, DNA repair, and cell regeneration. An incomplete sleep cycle can leave you tired, stressed, and cranky.

Some of the best music for falling asleep includes natural sounds like rain, ocean waves, and flowing streams. Music with theta and delta waves and with 432 Hz, works on a subconscious level to optimize restorative, sound sleep.

Try our Dream Waves YouTube Video to fall asleep & renew while you sleep!

👉 Watch Our Youtube Playlist Relax, Rest, Sleep & Heal Sound Videos for nature sounds and other healing videos for a better and restorative sleep & more!

Try Sleep Aid Food & Supplements:

Believe or not, these works and come in handy when you need a quality sleep.

Supplements are well-known in promoting better sleep:

Melatonin – Supports the body's natural sleep-wake cycle, especially helpful for falling asleep faster. Also known as SAM-e (S-adenosyl-L-methionine).

Magnesium – Calms the nervous system and helps relax muscles, aiding in restful sleep.

Valerian Root – A natural herb known for reducing stress and promoting relaxation.

Wild Lettuce - Mild sedative and calming properties that may promote better sleep and pain relief.

SHOP Our Recommendations

Prices are subject to change based on ongoing promotions, sales, and deals available at the time of your visit.

Thorne Magnesium Bisglycinate Powder, $48	Carlyle Melatonin 12 mg Fast Dissolve 300 Tablets \| Drug Free, $8.99
NOW Foods Supplements, Valerian Root (Valeriana officinalis) 500 mg, $13.40	Wild Lettuce Capsules, 1200mg Herbal Sleep Supplement. $21

BLYSS Magnesium Bisglycinate Capsules for Women - 200mg, $21 amazon.com

Personally, I have tried both Throne (see above) and this BLYSS for women versions. Someone let me try Throne and the sleep quality next morning was quite dramatic and I haven't had such a good sleep in a while. Though, price point was what made me try BLYSS for women version. It was not powerful enough to put me into a sleep right away or so noticeable when I tried Throne powder but my overall sleep quality improved. No more waking up middle of the night episodes.

Food that promote better sleep:

Oatmeal, Cherries, Walnuts, Turkey - rich in Melatonin, Tryptophan (Amino Acid) in Turkey produces Melatonin.

Banana, Almonds - rich in Magnesium. Especially making a tea with banana and the peel is known to promote a fast sleep, rich in magnesium, potassium, tryptophan & melatonin.

Wild Lettuce - rich in Lactucarium, a milky fluid found in the stems of certain lettuce varieties. Believe or not, this really put you right into sleep after a hour.

Herbal Teas - Camomile, valerian root, or peppermint. These are calming and prepare you for a bedtime.

Try Sleep Aid Device:

If any of this is harder to do, there are also some sleep aid devices out there to help you fall asleep faster. Dodow disk beams blue light over ceiling to help you concentrate and breathe to fall asleep.

Dodow Sleep-Aid Device $59, amazon.com / mydodow.com

P O W E R of Power Nap

Besides the daily night sleep, short power naps during the day could also provide a very effective rest and more energized feel and alertness. 15 minutes or 90 minutes are the most effective lengths of day time snoozes reported by many sleep studies. As short as 10-20 minutes power naps is known to promote an instant alertness and effective in decreasing fatigue while 90 minutes nap provide almost a full rest since this is a REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep with a complete full sleep cycle and dreaming. So do not nap longer than 90 minutes in order to avoid waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle which is harder to wake up from.

Also believe or not, the 15 minute power nap right after your daily java will actually increase alertness to the full level since caffein takes about 30 minutes to kick in after intake. This is why you feel still sleepy right after a cup of coffee. So for example, take a cup of coffee then snooze for 10-15 minute for your after lunch sleepiness.

Image: pinterest

S l e e p i n g B e a u t y

We all love to look beautiful whether we are awake or sleeping, like the fairytale sleeping beauty. Having lovely things while sleeping definitely let us sleep beautiful for sure. However silk pillowcases, sleep masks and pajamas are not just there to only look pretty and lustrous. Those are indeed great for our skin and hairs, too.

If you are a side sleeper, you probably hate waking up with face creases in the morning. Silk pillowcases prevent sleep creases! I particularly love the double croissant looking silk pillowcase by save my face. It really saved my face from those persistent sleep creases next my eyes, deepened by years of side sleeping. Silk pillowcases also known to prolong your hairstyle and if you sleep with wet hair, you wake up with silky hair the next morning.

A good pillow spray can induce a better sleep and mood with aromatherapy. Sexy sleepwear for sexy dreams. Some people need some music or sound for better sleep. Dimmable lamp also works. Whatever your needs, do it and sleep beautiful!

Image: Sleep Beauty Ballet Poster mikhailovsky.ru

SHOP THE LOOK

*We are not affiliated with any product/company/brand/website featured in this blog post other than our own & amazon.

Spasilk 100% Pure Silk Facial Beauty Pillowcase $22.99, amazon.com

I bought these and definitely helped for not waking up with face creases.

Luxury Mulberry Silk Eye Sleep Mask $19.99, amazon.com

Just The Pillow by Save My Face Beauty Anti-Wrinkle Pillow $36, amazon.com

This pillow literally saved my face! After months of recovery sleeping with this pillow, I was finally able to get rid of the deep sleep creases near my eyes caused by years of side sleeping. At first, it is a bit weird to sleep with then you get used to it. You can easily travel with it since it is small. Now, I can’t sleep without it..... Also great for when you are doing some type of overnight skincare routine. Highly recommend this. Price has gotten up since though.