There are a bazillion articles out there telling us what to do and what not to do so we can look amazing. And we eat it up eagerly because everyone in this day and age is obsessed with the physical, always ensuring that we’re always in our element. This especially holds true for women, vanity be damned. We follow strict beauty regimens, exercise patterns, and bank account-crimping diets just so we can look as fabulous as the women we see in magazines and on TV.
But we often neglect the fact that sometimes, the best kind of beauty solution is to get loads of rest and sleep. It’s at night when we’re relaxed that our bodies recharge, our cells get revitalized, and given that we get a good night’s sleep, we can wake up with our natural beauty enhanced. So what can we do to boost our bodies as we slumber into the night? Here are some tips.
15 Get lots of sleep
It doesn’t take a doctor to know that getting lots of sleep can do wonders to your well-being. According to an article on HelpGuide, doctors recommend getting 7 and a half to 9 hours of sleep on a nightly basis to be able to wake up feeling and looking fresh. Getting less than this amount can result in waking up and going through the day with bleary eyes, sallow skin, and limp hair. Aside from that, you’ll feel more energetic and ready to face the day with vigor.
14 Meditate
Whatever the outcome of your day was, whether it was a good one or crappy, it will do anyone a lot of good to relax by praying or meditating before you head off to dream land. It’s completely worthwhile to take stock, reflect, relax, and calm your mind and body down. Experts suggest 30 minutes to an hour of meditation and prayer time each night. This will help you de-stress and cast your worries aside for the 8 hours of sleep time that you get.
13 Wash face a few hours before bed
Out of habit or perhaps circumstance, you sometimes wash off the make-up from your face right before you go to bed. Maybe you were too busy preparing dinner or putting the kids to bed or doing last minute chores. But according to InStyle, it will do you a world of good if you wash your face a few hours before you go to bed and not wait to do it when you’re bone-tired because the toxins tend to stay there when you’re muscles are exhausted.
12 Sleep on your back
For those who love sleeping on their stomachs, this one’s for you: it’s not good for your beauty sleep! InStyle says that it’s not recommendable to put pressure on your face when you sleep, given that the head can weigh as much as 8 pounds. Added to that, sleeping on your face can actually cause wrinkles. So the best way to sleep is flat on your back and not let any portion of your face rest on the pillows.
11 Sleep with head elevated
Most of us love fluffy pillows to cradle our heads when we sleep and we’re in luck because elevating the head when sleeping is actually a good thing. And InStyle says it’s advisable to sleep with not just one but two pillows underneath your head. According to experts, the gravity helps the blood to flow from the head and circulate to the rest of your body, making the body stronger and healthier, not to mention giving you better sleep.
10 Put healing ointment around the eyes
Worried about wrinkles but don’t want to succumb to botox? There are natural ways to prevent crow’s feet by putting on a healing ointment at night. After removing make-up with cotton (baby oil is a good substitute for actual eye make-up remover. So are baby wipes.) and thoroughly cleansing, moisturizing, and toning your facial skin, lather on a generous amount of cold eye cream right before bedtime. It conditions and hydrates skin thoroughly.
9 Lessen the amount of carbs at dinner
The old adage of avoiding too many carbs during dinner is absolutely true. Not only do carbs hinder weight loss, they can even make you gain weight if you eat the wrong kind of carbs. So the best course of action is to avoid eating too many carbs for evening meals. Not only will avoiding it help in giving you that svelte figure, but it can even inadvertently help in giving you more defined cheekbones, according to InStyle. For those killer cheekbones, just eat a high-protein and low-sugar dinner, such as salmon and asparagus.
8 Use silk to prevent frizzy hair
For that never-ending battle with frizzy hair, one way to tame it is to take preventive measures the night before. InStyle advises you to sleep on a pillowcase made of satin material or tie your hair loosely with a silk scarf. The reason it has to be silk? The fabric is much softer than cotton and there’s less chances of friction on the hair. Friction is a main cause of frizz in hair, after all.
7 Sleep with damp hair and conditioner
Contrary to the old wives’ tale that sleeping with wet hair can give you a cold or ruin your eyesight, InStyle actually recommends turning in with slightly damp hair. The slightly wet hair should be moisturized thoroughly with conditioner or any other hair mask. The treatment has to be left overnight, then rinsed off completely in the morning. That way, you start your day off with shiny locks and a moisturized scalp as well. No need for hot oil treatments!
6 Sleep with a mask
Many women and men claim that using a sleeping mask will help you fall asleep faster and prevents you from waking up in the middle of the night. Studies have shown that when your brain senses pure darkness it will cause the production of melatonin which is the chemical that helps you sleep. There are many types of masks out there, try on a few to see which one is right for you.
5 Drink lots of water
It’s a well-known fact that keeping hydrated is good for the body, mind and soul. Lacking basic water in your body can do all kinds of harm to it, not to mention affect your entire well-being. Eight glasses of water a day is ideal for good hair, nails, and skin, but WikiHow suggests going the extra mile and consuming a liter more than you usually take and you can even lose weight. Taking a glass of water a couple of hours before bed will also keep you hydrated as you sleep.
4 Treat your skin the natural way
For those who have searched endlessly for natural home remedies to treat acne, but keep running into a brick wall, Brit + Co has a solution that just might work. The article advises to make a honey and cinnamon face mask or mixture to smear all over your face for 20 minutes in the evening. Afterwards, you can rinse it off then moisturize per usual. For better results, you might even want to leave the mask on your face overnight—if you can stand the stickiness, that is.
3 Pamper your feet
To avoid getting dry, cracked heels or dry skin in general in your feet, there’s such a thing as bliss softening socks, according to Brit + Co. The first thing to do after washing your feet and patting them dry at night is to apply a generous amount of foot cream. Massage the heels and souls of the feet for good measure. Then put on the bliss softening socks before climbing into bed. You’re sure to get baby-soft feet when you wake up.
2 Use virgin coconut oil for almost anything
A few years, back virgin coconut oil became the go-to for practically any and every health problem. Today, it’s still considered one of the most effective remedies for a variety of physiological concerns. It’s a great moisturizer and according to Brit + Co, it can be applied to the lips or used in place of a foot and hand cream before bedtime. You’ll surely wake up with silky soft skin. Of course, the downside is you’ll have to put up with the greasiness of it and smelling like coconut. But many swear by it.
1 Keep the window open
Sometimes if it’s too cold or too hot, we tend to either turn up the heater or the air conditioning and confine the room temperature to what it is by leaving the windows tightly shut. But an article on The Daily Mind says it’s better to leave the window a crack open when you sleep at night. One, it will allow the carbon dioxide, which is poisonous, from your breaths to filter out. And secondly, you need natural oxygen to float into the room. The circulation of air will certainly help you sleep better and wake up feeling and looking fresher than ever.
Sources: thedailymind.com, instyle.com, wikihow.com
