Welcome to The Holistic Skin Guru, where what's on the surface is

just as important as what's underneath. I'm your host, Ameena.

Let's dive deep into the world of holistic skincare. Wow,

we've made it through to episode six. Welcome to the

podcast today, we're going to be talking about sleep and skin

health. This is a very, very exciting topic, because I

think it's much overlooked in the world of beauty.

And people are now starting to talk about it in the in the world

of health and physical activity. So

you'll hear personal trainers talking about it, but

not many people are speaking about it in the beauty

industry. So I'm here to tell you that your sleep

is going to give you some beautiful skin. And the reason

for this is because our skin regenerates

overnight as we sleep. It's very important for

us to get back into our circadian rhythm.

So our ancestors had no televisions, no

smartphones. They didn't have all the distractions that

we have today. And so they woke up with the birds

and with the sunrise and they went to bed with the chickens. And

we need to reset our brains into looking

after our system in such a way that it is going

through its natural processes. And one of the things that

a lot of natural health practitioners and even

some very smart doctors will tell you is that

you need to get adequate sleep to be able to

perform not just cognitively, but physically as

well. So by waking up and

watching the sunrise, We're actually setting ourselves

up for the day and when we look

into the sunrise, I think it's a pinkish hue or

a greenish hue that you see in the horizon. It actually

filters through our eyes and it triggers something in our

brain. that actually allows for our happy hormones

to be produced. And these happy hormones, these

endorphins are setting us up for the day and actually

promote energy in our bodies. Now, I know I'm not

giving you a very scientific description of

this, but I encourage you to go online and

read about circadian rhythms and how good

it is for you to put yourself back into a good

circadian rhythm. And then in the evening when

we look at the sun setting, that sunset

actually again sets our brains up to

release a melatonin in our bodies which

helps to relax us and get us

ready for our night time and our sleep. So

what am I talking about here? I'm talking about a routine, a

bedtime routine, a nighttime routine, something

that helps your body settle down, that's not encouraging

you to wake up. So our screens, our TVs, our

monitors, they're all artificial light and

actually mimics daylight. and tricks our

body into thinking that it's still daytime, and so

that's why we find it so difficult to fall asleep. So

what we want to do is, after we've corrected our natural

rhythm of waking and sleeping, we are actually

resetting our bodies to repair on

a cellular level and regenerate. So what does this mean for our

skin? It means that our skin cells can start

to rejuvenate and they can start to repair themselves

for any damage that has occurred during that day. And

when we tie this in with the correct skincare regimen,

we're actually boosting our results. So that's why sleep is so

important. When we sleep, our bodies also produce

collagen, our skin is also producing collagen, and

other essential molecules for the

health of our bodies and our skin. So that cellular

repair and regeneration is very important for good, glowing,

healthy skin. When we sleep, our bodies are also reducing

inflammation. So overnight, over

the course of the day, we get stressed. And

in order for us to deal with that stress, we need

sufficient amounts of rest and sleep for our

bodies to then recover and recuperate. so

that when we wake up, we feel more refreshed and energized

for the coming day. When we sleep, our inflammation in

our body reduces, and if we don't get sufficient amounts

of sleep, we can trigger things

like psoriasis and acne, which present

in our skin as stress. So during our

sleep, we increase blood flow, which

helps to improve the complexion of our skin.

A lot of us present with dark circles under

our eyes and our skin is a little bit dull and that's a

direct correlation to the amount of sleep or rest that

our skin is getting. So for a healthy complexion, we wanna have

sufficient amount of sleep so that our bodies can circulate

that blood and improve the skin structure and

the regeneration of those skin cells, start making a lot

of collagen for our skin so that when we wake up, we look

refreshed, we get rid of those dark circles and that puffiness.

And that also ties in with lymphatic drainage. So one

of the things that we do in our treatments is lymphatic drainage. which

will actually help de-puff your skin if

you're feeling stagnant in any way. How

many hours of sleep is good for you? Roughly, they

say to us that seven to nine hours is a good range. And

obviously, as we get older, that becomes a little bit more difficult because our

sleep patterns are so compromised. Getting

into a sleeping schedule is a very good idea because that

routine actually sets us up for bedtime and

gets our bodies ready and understanding that

sleep is coming after this. So if we get into that routine on

a daily basis, then we're more likely to find rest

and fall asleep and fall into a rhythm each day. So

I'm encouraging you to look at a bedtime routine. You

might want to start winding down from about 8 o'clock

so that by the time you get to about 9, 9.30, your body's

ready to sleep. So when you put your head on that pillow, you are

100% dedicated to that full night's sleep. You might

want to check out a book written by a guy called Matthew

Walker. It's called Why We Sleep and he

goes into depth about how our circadian

rhythm works and all about sleep. So you

might find that interesting. The other thing that we

should also consider is changing our pillowcase.

So when we do sleep, we're not creating any creases on

our skin and adding more wrinkles and fine

lines. Silk pillowcases are the best. I know they're the

most expensive, but trust me, it's worth every penny.

And try to change your pillowcase a

couple of times a week if you can, so that's nice and clean. It'll

prevent any breakout or any

irritation that you may be feeling. So anybody who suffers

from adult acne or the occasional pimple here

and there, and we all do because of other reasons like stress or

hormones, this is another way to look after

that. And when we develop a nighttime routine

and all our systems are working calmly,

we tend to fall asleep faster as well. we can drift off to sleep

nicely and we won't feel like it's taking us forever

to fall asleep because our minds are still so stimulated from our phones and

our computers and our TVs. So if you want to improve your skin,

start looking at your sleeping patterns and how you can

change this in a positive way to increase your

melanin production in order to have a good

night's rest and wake up feeling refreshed and revitalized. If

you like this podcast, give us a five star rating on

Spotify and Apple podcast. Don't forget to leave a

comment in the comment section below. And

if you would like us to talk about any other topic around

skin, I'm happy to take a deep dive and we'll