In this age of swiftness and speed, most of us may sacrifice a proper shut eye on the altar of endless activities. But whatever era you belong to, one underlying fact is that you need your beauty sleep. Without it, you are actually inflicting abuse on your skin, so say experts.
With the emphasis on making hay while the sun shines all around these days, many are also of the firm opinion that only lazy bones sleep for a sound seven to eight hours. Frankly, that is not true. The only way to find out that it is not true is to take that test: some of you try to get your seven to eight hours beauty sleep, while, some others will sleep for just a few hours for some days, say, for a week. You will find the first lot waking up looking fresh and rosy, while the others, the underprivileged lot, would end up looking pale and altogether blotchy; you may get dark circles around your eyes and you will look like a truck has run over you. Consult any doctor. They would all say this in unison: Beauty sleep is for real. It is required because skin needs sleep hours to heal itself from the day’s damage. When you sleep, skin utilises that time to recover. Most often you have seen women wake up from a good sleep, looking fresh and rosy. That is not an accident. That is what good sleep gives and it also helps in giving you a proper chance of feeling good and being alert to the task ahead of you every morning. Skip sleep and you will be hopping around in stress. Studies have revealed that college students had more breakouts when they were stressed out during exams. But, even adults can be troubled by lack of sleep. Do your own research; ask around, you will soon find out that sleep starved people and those who have had eight hours of sound sleep behaved entirely different in stress and even normal situations. Not only did the latter look good, their performance also reflected their “beauty sleep”. Well rested people have always been found to be healthier, alert and attractive. Of course, there are times when we are required to sacrifice sleep, and then we may have to compromise on that. But, many of us today, stay awake just to party the night away. This is fine on occasions, but, when you make this a habit, you will soon see and feel the visible changes in your skin, in your behaviour and perhaps, even in your attitude. One should not undermine the importance of the beauty sleep. Reports note how women who shirk sleep for a long period of time will soon be looking sickly, pale and sallow. There will be dark circles around your eyes and you will become perennially exhausted. The benefits of the beauty sleep are manifold: you will be able to avoid chronic diseases, will not have that many mood swings, will not develop mental illnesses, and will not be a nuisance to your partner by snoring them crazy. Just look at it this way: you come home after a hard day’s work and why do you have to punish your body and mind further by depriving yourself of a good night’s sleep? There are so many layers of goodness that you would benefit from by getting yourself a refreshing shut eye. So go ahead and get a good night’s sleep and wake up fresh and rosy! (This article is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.) November November--December December 53 53 B&W 22 00 11 33 B&W