Don’t let lack of sleep and stress spoil your special day

By Dr. Gabrielle Cannick

Once upon a time, and perhaps even still today, mothers would say to their daughters, “It’s important you get your beauty rest!”

Is this old-fashioned “wives’ tale” advice? Or smart counsel born out of experience? More to the point, if true can it help brides reduce the stress that comes with planning a wedding and at the same time ensure the star of the show looks and feels their very best on their special day?

The answer? Mom is right. It’s an age-old beauty enhancement formula and it goes like this: Quality sleep = stress reduction = looking AND feeling your best.

Research verifies and experts agree a good night’s sleep can do wonders for your skin. And your skin is not the only beneficiary: think lowering the risk of weight gain, anxiety, a weakened immune system, and other serious health issues. That is why I have embraced sleep dentistry and incorporated it into our Grand Oaks dental practice. In treating my valued patient family, I have come to realize and observe firsthand how important sleep is to our overall health.

How does sleep deprivation affect the skin?

Research indicates that just two nights of limited sleep can significantly change the appearance of the skin and the face. Dark under-eye circles appear, a marked sign that someone has been burning the midnight oil. If dark circles aren’t enough, there is dry skin and hollowing out of the cheeks. The result is not the glow of youth but the tell-tale signs of premature aging. Not good. This is because dehydration accompanies tiredness. We associate dehydration with not drinking enough water. But research suggests lack of sleep is the real culprit.

Then there is the matter of skin elasticity. More than any other skin feature, skin elasticity or sagging can appear after just six days of poor sleep. Sleep disruption can also exacerbate rosacea, a skin condition that specifically affects the face, causing redness, pimples, and broken blood vessels.

And what about stress and your mental well-being?

Brides are also confronted with a predictable side effect of wedding planning, and that is stress. No matter how organized you are or how impressive your support system may be, stress is unavoidable. The trick is to recognize that it comes with the territory. How you handle it is what matters. Stress can affect your whole body, including your hair, nails, and skin. Stress causes a chemical response in your body that makes skin more sensitive and reactive. It can also make it harder for any skin problems to heal.

What’s more, when stress becomes chronic and doesn’t go away it can affect the immune system, digestion and leave us vulnerable to feelings of depression, where you end up focusing on and worrying about things that don’t matter.

Further, you can literally run out of adrenaline and other stress hormones. This results in feeling tired, lethargic, and disinterested in what is going on around you. Our modern lives are filled with stress. And planning a wedding can kick stress reactions into high gear.

So, how do you combat stress and keep in control? For consideration here are the top recommendations from the experts:

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Meditate. This is simply the practice of concentrating your attention on your breathing and clearing your mind. You can then decide whether you want to respond to the thoughts and feelings coming into your head or let them pass. The idea is to consciously detach yourself from whatever is causing stress and just relax.

Correct Breathing. Yes, how you breathe can make a big difference in your stress levels by helping you produce beneficial hormones, reduce your heart rate, and calm yourself down. Inhale from your stomach and the lower part of your chest first. Then fill the upper portion of your lungs by relaxing the abdominal muscles.

Like a bellows, the lungs fill from the bottom to the top. You get a much deeper breath than you do with regular chest breathing, a bad habit most of us have.

Exercise. Burn some calories, get your blood pumping. This releases endorphins, a natural antidepressant, which will calm you and put you in a happier mood. Exercise can also give you a sense of focus and achievement.

Very important for those wedding jitters!

Don’t let lack of sleep and uncontrolled stress happen. By overcoming these two impediments to one of the happiest times in your life, you can look your best on that special day, achieve a healthier state of mind, and better manage the inevitable stress that is to be expected and best anticipated.

Resolve: Get enough sleep, set reasonable limits, scale back your to-do list and be sure to make time to do the things you enjoy. The results just might be dramatic!

And a final thought from one with some experience: The difference between an ordinary marriage and an extraordinary marriage is in giving just a little ‘extra’ every day, as often as possible, for as long as we both shall live.

Dr. Gabrielle F. Cannick is the owner of Grand Oaks Dental, located at 3905 Liberty Highway in Anderson. A strong believer that dental fear and anxiety should not prevent any patient from receiving the highest quality dental care, Dr. Cannick has received extensive training in Sedation Dentistry and is a certified member of the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation. She is also a member of the South Carolina Dental Association, the American Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. For more information about Grand Oaks Dental and the services provided, please call 864-224-0809, or click to grandoaksdental.com or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GrandOaksDental.