Sleep Syncing Your Skincare Regimen

Multi-tasking Beyond Skincare

If you’re like me, you demand multi-tasking attributes from your skincare products. And unless you’ve been asleep at the wheel, you’re tuned in to the importance of sleep syncing as a key attribute of a healthy,anti-inflammatory lifestyle. 

What if I told you that your multi-tasking skincare practices could also help to sync your sleep patterns to natural circadian rhythms?   It’s all about understanding and supporting the intricate body – mind connection.  Read on to learn more about how sleep syncing can support more youthful looking, radiant skin and how your skincare routine can support your healthy wakefulness and sleep cycles.   

How Sleep Cycles Affect Skin

Your skin responds to both external cues and to your internal clock.  The circadian rhythms that are impacted by light and temperature help synchronize various physiological functions that affect your skin.  Because circadian rhythms regulate the production of proteins that are involved in skin repair and protection, irregularities in sleep patterns can negatively affect skin health and contribute to skin aging.

Additionally, the body’s own internal clock plays a role in regulating various skin functions, such as oil production, hydration, and cell turnover. That’s why irregular sleep patterns can lead to a range of skin issues, including dryness, acne, and premature aging.

As we develop a greater appreciation for all the ways that sleep syncing (i.e. going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day) can support radiance and wellbeing, we’re also recognizing how so many of today’s stressors and lifestyle habits can come between us and healthy sleep patterns.  

A good night’s sleep starts with falling asleep, then staying asleep, and ultimately waking up with alertness and energy in the morning.  This involves the interplay of various chemicals in the body throughout the day. One of the key chemicals involved in sleep is adenosine that naturally builds up in the brain as the day progresses.  Adenosine is the result of energy metabolism and as adenosine levels rise, you feel more tired and your brain craves sleep.  

Another key chemical in sleep syncing is dopamine. Dopamine supports motivation and alertness, and low levels can lead to fatigue and sleepiness during the day which, in turn, can affect sleep patterns at night.  Ideally, adenosine levels are highest at night and dopamine levels are highest early in the day.

Three Ways to Upgrade Your Skincare to Sleep Syncing Self-care

1. Morning:  Cleanse Your Skin with Dopamine in Mind

   Radiant, glowing skin starts with a perfected surface.  Sleep syncing starts with dopamine-powered wakefulness during the day.  This simple cleansing routine can help with both.
   
   You just need a couple minutes in the morning to apply a clay-based cleansing mask, ideally one that strengthens skin’s natural barrier function likeSolvasa’s Golden Harmony Cleansing Mask.  While the clay cleanser is drying, practice a short, meditative breathing exercise.  Practicing mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase dopamine levels in the brain to get your day off to a more productive, energetic start.
   

2. Afternoon:  A Multi-Tasking Beverage for Better Skin and Better Sleep

   Stimulating beverages containing caffeine promote wakefulness by blocking the receptors in the brain that respond to adenosine.  This is helpful during the daytime hours, but we all know that caffeine will adversely impact sleep patterns if consumed later in the day.
   
   An alternative to coffee or caffeinated drinks after the clock strikes noon is a hot Ayurvedic beverage containing theadaptogens turmeric and ashwagandha. Turmeric’s functional component, curcumin, is known for its well-studied and time-proven anti-inflammatory benefits. 
   
   Ashwagandha has been long valued for its anti-anxiety benefits.  Along with the skin wellness benefits associated with resilience to inflammatory stress, consumption of these nutrients is a drug-free and delicious way to support natural sleep cycles when consumed regularly as an alternative to caffeine or other stimulants later in the day. Solvasa Golden Moment is a dairy-free adaptation of Ayurvedic golden milk and contains a nutritional supplement dose of both curcumin and ashwagandha.
   
   

3. Night: Facial Massage for the Ultimate Beauty Sleep

   A vibrational gua sha massage withSolvasa Crystal Energy Wand and DeStressance serum supports a host of direct skincare benefits while helping to ease the brain into a sleep-ready state. 
   
   Facial massage can have various benefits, including stimulation of endorphins to promote feelings of happiness and wellbeing.  Massage has also been found to increase levels of the love hormone, oxytocin, further reducing stress levels and promoting a sense of calmness.
   
   All of the good feels are happening while the massage is delivering the skin and beauty benefits oflymphatic drainage, enhanced microcirculation, relaxation of facial muscle tension and infusion of brightening, wrinkle-diminishing amino peptides, adaptogens and other phytonutrients. 
   
   

Swap the Digital Screen for Old School Journaling

Stack the deck in your favor by habit stacking your sleep syncing practices.  Late night engagement with computers or tablet screens will take its toll on the health of your brain and ultimately your skin by disrupting your natural circadian rhythms.  That’s why it’s a good idea to schedule your nightly digital power down after the sun goes down to allow your brain and body prepare to fall asleep. 

Journaling can help establish your healthy sleep syncing habits as well as track your progress on your anti-inflammatory beauty and self-care journey.  Solvasa’s 21 / 90 journal is all about turning intention into habit.  The best way to create a new habit is to connect it to something you’re already doing and hold yourself accountable.  After 21 days, a new habit is established.  In 90 days, ongoing and meaningful benefits are seen and felt.  

The Power of Sleep

For years, I thought that one of my superpowers was my ability to function on less than six hours sleep a night.  It’s not that I couldn’t fall asleep or stay asleep, it’s that I didn’t think I had time to sleep; my ambition and career aspirations took priority. 

Now I know better.  We all know better!  So let’s hit the pillow every night (facing up to avoid crush wrinkles) and embrace the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, “Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.”