Getting Your Beauty Sleep is No Joke for Anti-aging Beauty by Lorne Caplan
We often joke that we need to get our beauty sleep and sometimes when we don’t look so good after a hard night out partying, the truth is directly related to our lack of sleep. In fact, a recent study of some 6,000 individuals for cancer research related this fact with the side effect of achieving anti-aging beauty benefits.
Of course it wasn’t as simple as sleeping away the wrinkles and decreased collagen production. Some exercise was required as well. Moderate exercise, at least an hour a day for the women subjects. Combined with this regimen and at least seven hours of sleep a day, almost 47% of test subjects were less likely to contract cancer (they didn’t say which kinds). From the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Dr. James McCain, lead researcher said; “Current findings suggest that sleep duration modifies the relationship between physical activity and all-site cancer risk among young and middle-aged women.”
So how does sleep benefit us beyond reducing cancer risk? It seems that our bodies regenerate during the sleeping hours and depending on if we get enough deep REM sleep, our chemical messengers are excreted and sent on their way to do their repair jobs throughout our bodies, if we get enough sleep. You see, our brain, when at rest sends off these hormones to do their jobs. Particularly what is called, the master hormone, human growth hormone or HGH. This “big daddy” of hormones that is purported to be (a nasty argument always ensues between supporters and detractors of HGH right, about… now!) one element to rejuvenating skin, hair, bones, organs and anything else that has suffered from age related deterioration. During our sleep hours, usually for women, at around 2AM and 5AM, our pituitary gland secretes this protein hormone which sets out to tell our bodies to start making repairs.
We’ve also learned through various weight training journals, that HGH is excreted by our gland in greater numbers if our bodies are taxed (exercise) by resistance training. The more that we produce, naturally, the better for our bodies repair. Now that we now that exercise is a good thing, why do we need to sleep to obtain anti-aging beauty benefits? Simply put, if our bodies don’t go into a state of “pause” let’s say, then we can’t send out the necessary repair crew to clean-up the mess (oxidation, stress hormones like cortisol, damaged soft tissue - muscle pulls or tears, etc…) that we caused during the day. In fact, by just breathing and eating, our bodies generate mountains of toxins that our clean-up crew has to get rid of (liver, kidneys, skin and lymph system). These trash haulers work much better when our immune system (controlling inflammation, which puts off waste products that have to be cleaned-up as well) works in tandem with our endocrine system to keep things regulated, otherwise, the excess of toxins might not get cleaned-up, causing us to get sick from a slow or inefficient immune system that isn’t supported by a healthy hormone secreting gland.
The point that I am trying to make above, is that our intricate functional performance is based on a very delicate balance of systems. That is the homeostasis that I so often refer to in articles. Without the delicate balance, we tend to malfunction, which means our endocrine system shuts down (thyroid problems), or we get sick (immune system overwhelmed or not responsive) and even lack of nutrients being metabolized creating deficiencies (no fuel or replacement parts for our various organs, blood or other components. It’s a fascinating dance that we are involved in every day and the basis, right or wrong, happens to be our bodies reliance on it’s circadian rhythm, or the amount and timing of sleep that we, as individuals need each day.
Certainly, there are some folks who can live on very little sleep. That would suggest their bodily systems are compensating for the lack of hormone messengers and other elements that it needs to function optimally. Heck, my own father used to sleep (not well, he snored so loud the neighbors heard him and my mother didn’t sleep at all) four hours a night. he was cranky, short tempered and ultimately died from heart failure after fighting off multiple strokes, pneumonia, lack of nutrition and a multitude of other complications. Was sleep deprivation the cause of his death? Most assuredly not, but it may very well have been an exacerbation of certain shortcomings he had with various other anti-toxin, musculoskeletal, endocrine and circulatory systems.
Overall, by getting the necessary sleep, suggested to be between 7-9 hours per night for adults (yes, I know… how?), we provide an optimal platform from which our bodies can begin the daily repair and replacement cycle. With less, we don’t get enough of the hormones that we need to direct the traffic of repair and with more, our delicate balance is thrown off. To refute these facts is to do so at your own risk and I know we all do it frequently, that is to not sleep properly, but have you ever noticed that when you slow down after days maybe weeks and months of non-stop frenetic work and play schedules, our bodies shut-down. We get tired, sick, lethargic and can’t understand why? Well, sleep is why and the studies will continue.
