How To Actually Get Some Damn Sleep (& why your skin is begging you to!)

We all know beauty sleep is a real thing, yet do we actually prioritize it? Or is it the 1 st thing we sacrifice in the name of “hustling” or “one more episode” or worse “doom scrolling.”

If you were to ask me what should I prioritize, working out at 5am when you only got 4–5 hours of sleep the night before or sleeping an extra hour, I am going to say skip the workout babe and stay in bed. Do not get it twisted working out is still extremely important and needed but so is sleep and we seem to forget that. We push our bodies to extremes and we never give back.

We hide behind the lies we tell ourselves...

“I am a night person.”

“My body only need 3–4 hour of sleep to function.”

I call BULLSHIT! I also was this person. All of the above I have done to my body and then some. And the truth is our bodies needs sleep and not getting sleep does more damage than we even realize. More and more studies continue to come out about the importance of sleep and the negative effects from not sleeping.

Most of us have heard a lot of these so I am going to skip the most common ones and get straight to the, are you freaking kidding me ones you might not of heard of, while giving you a quick overview of what our bodies do while we sleep and tips and tricks on how you can actually get some sleep because let’s be real it’s not that easy especially as we age, thank you perimenopause and menopause.

Okay so let’s get into it. Basically, the most healing thing we can do is sleep. When you sleep, your body repairs everything you beat up during the day, not just skin. Every organ, hormones, stress, all of it. When you don’t sleep your body stays in chaos mode and there will be signs. Besides long term health effects your skin is kind of a snitch.

A Swedish research group led by John Axelsson and Tina Sundelin at the Karolinska Institute. Found that when people don’t sleep well, they perceived themselves as less attractive AND others rate them the same way too. So yeah, now it’s even backed by science you are not as pretty on the days when you don’t sleep. This fact isn’t actually as shocking as you might think. When we don’t sleep collagen breaks down faster and no sleep or not enough sleep means your body can’t release growth hormones. Your body literally make more collagen while you sleep.

You don’t need an expensive collagen supplement you need to go to bed! There are a million reasons to sleep and just speaking on a skin level, not enough sleep leads to inflammation, dehydration, dark circle, dull, puffy skin, more redness, breakouts, more fine lines and wrinkles, it even makes your face less asymmetrical, and a more symmetrical face has been proven is what people view as attractive.

The really messed up truth, getting a good nights sleep takes work. Most of us do not get into bed, fall asleep and stay asleep all night. If you do, enjoy it, statistically speaking, it won’t last and you will need these tips in the future.

First we must look at ways in which we are sabotaging ourselves.

The damn phone! One of the best and worst inventions. I have such a love hate for it. There is a part of me that wants to get a landline and live like it was the 90s again. Really, it’s not just phones. It’s phones, laptops and TVs. All of these little distraction gremlins need to be powered off and put down at least an hour before you sleep. The blue light literally shuts down your melatonin, you know that little hormone that makes you sleep.

Stop eating 2–3 hours before bed. Eating before bed does a lot of negative things.

1. It keeps your digestion in “work mode” meaning its working instead of repairing.

2. It spikes your blood sugar which spikes your cortisol and bam you are up at 2am and you don’t know why.

3. Growth hormones drop when insulin is high. Growth hormones are your beauty and repair hormone.

4. It can cause reflux and bloating which can keep you in a light sleep.

5. And last eating right before bed can lead to fatty liver.

No caffeine past 2pm. I think this is pretty straight forward why.

If you wake up having to pee in the middle of the night cut liquids before bed by 2 hours.

Inconsistent bedtimes. I know this sucks, we are finally adults who don’t have a bedtime and now I am saying you need a bedtime, the same one, everyday, even on weekends, or as many days as you can. When we go to bed whenever we want it confuses our sensitive circadian rhythm.

Leaving all the lights on in the house. Dim the lights or turn them off and light a candle. Talk about romanticizing your life. This tells your brain it’s night time.

Working out too late. Intense workouts spike cortisol and body temp. both of these things will stop you from sleeping well.

Overheating your bedroom. We need to be cool when we sleep. Turn the heater down or off. If we get too warm we won’t go into a deep sleep which is when the magic really happens.

Your room/ bed need to be a place of stress. Treat your room as a special place. Where the world isn’t allowed in. No office in the room. No TV. Don’t lay in your bed doom scrolling, go to the living room if you must doom scroll. Your bed and bedroom needs to be a protected place of peace and calm. You should love your room. Romanticize it. Get a new mattress or bedding. You want to look forward to getting into bed. So whatever makes you feel that way, do it!

Okay now let’s talk about all the extra little things that can go a long way.

• Wash your face earlier in the night. Sometimes washing our face right before bed can wake us up a little. Better yet, shower at night, getting into bed clean is one of my favorite things.

• Magnesium is your friend. Magnesium Glycinate to be exact. 200–400mg about an hour before bed. It’s actually estimated 50–70% of people don’t get enough magnesium. Fun fact the more stressed you are the more magnesium you need. Stress depletes magnesium.

• Relaxing herbal tea after dinner or about 90 mins before bed.

• Mouth tape. Not for everyone but worth a try. Mouth tape can help you sleep better especially if you are a mouth breather. Bonus its good for dental health as well.

• White noise or a sleep mediation or music. Spotify and Apple music have so many free ones to chose from. I cannot sleep without it.

• Get the stress out before you get in bed. This is where journaling can be extremely helpful. Brain dump it all out on the pages so it’s out of your head.

• Get sunlight on your eyes in the morning. Cher at true aesthetics swears by this. This resets your internal clock and makes you sleepy at night.

• And one more maybe controversial tip. CBN. CBN is a cannabinol. A natural occurring compound from the cannabis plant. It helps you sleep but doesn’t get you high. Sometimes it is paired with THC (the stuff that will get you high) for a more amplified effect. So here is the caveat. I love this for the nights where my stress is high and my mind is working in overtime. NOT as a replacement to not change your sleep habits. If you don’t change your sleep habits, adding CBN alone likely won’t fix your sleep. CBN can help on nights when falling asleep is harder, but it can’t override poor sleep routines.

Here’s the thing, sleep isn’t something I magically mastered. It’s something I actively work on. But these tools make a noticeable difference for me. I’m always learning and refining what works, so don’t be surprised if you hear more from me on this topic.

Sweet Dreams

Xo Amelia