7 Steps For Better Sleep & Skin

At Wǒ we are dedicated to taking care of your skin from a holistic point of view, this means that we want to look at the whole picture of you when we consider skin concerns. Skin is affected by a number of factors, including; age, ethnicity, lifestyle, diet & environment.

We want to help you to understand the factors that affect your skin, so you can manage them, in conjunction with our Skin Diagnostic that will recommend a skincare routine that's tailored to you and your particular needs at any time.

Beauty Sleep

7 Step Ritual For Better Sleep-  By Abigail Baird

The thing is with sleep…we NEED it, for our mind, for our body, for our skin. We need that rest to restart, prepare us for the fast pace society that we all live in and to do this successfully, just like children we need to wind down from the busy day. Considering a bedtime routine starting at 9pm, the following 7 steps are here to guide you:

Have your dinner early evening, you're aiming anywhere between 2-4 hours before bed time. Eating late in the night leaves the body on ‘high alert’ state and prevents our bodies from powering down. Do we really need our bodies working hard to digest food when were trying to wind down for the night?

If you feel hungry later in the evening it is not advisable to ignore this, so try a low carb light meal soup is a great option.

Let’s face it when you’ve had a long day all you want to do is get your loungewear on, get on the sofa tv remote in one hand and phone in the other to catch up on all the insta stories you’ve missed throughout your busy day. It’s a time to chill and reply to any messages you may have missed and to connect with loved ones, whilst watching your favourite programmes.

3. The breakup 9pm

Mentally and physically disconnect from your phone. Place it on ‘Do not disturb’ mode and on charge, upside down in another room. That’s it ! Good Night Phone.

It's one of the hardest if not the hardest unhealthy habits to break. The blue-light that comes out of our phones can reduce levels of a hormone called melatonin, which is something that we need to help us drop into deep, relaxing sleep. In addition, how easy is it to scroll upon something that angers or upsets you, do we really need to be feeling wound up right before bed?.  Put. It. Down.

4. To do

Have a notebook handy to write all and everything you plan on doing the next day, you want to get everything on paper. We want to clear you mind and holding onto ‘To Do’s’ for the next day is very distracting for our sleep.

5. Sleep exercise - 9-10pm

You want too be comfortable in your clothes and the room to be cosy and snug, so if you have lamps, fairy lights, candles, aromatherapy oils or maybe some music whatever means relaxing to you. Using a 432 Hz also know as the sleep healing frequency can also be work a try, if you've never experienced it.

Now that you have created a calming environment we can start with some movement, Aim for 10-20 mins of gentle stretching, you won’t need a mat you can do this on the floor. We are preparing our bodies to stay fairly still for a number of hours throughout the night so we don’t want to be going to bed holding onto any tension that may have creeped in during the day.

6. Breathwork

Breathing exercises can help to calm the mind and body, every cell in our body need oxygen to function properly whether we are awake or sleeping. So its no surprise that regular practise of controlled breathing can decrease the effects of stress on the body. Notice that a simple sigh* can bring you a second of relief from what ever situation you are in. You can find out more about breathing exercises and the benefits in Our Journal post Breathing For Beauty

7. Sleep gratitude - 10-11pm

You should now be deeply relaxed and ready to head off to bed. The final stage to completely have you at ease and set up for a restful night is the presence of a gratitude journal, this can be a simple notebook by the side of of the bed to write down all the things that has happened to you throughout the day that has made you smile, start with the small things and end with what you have in your life which you are grateful for, the family, friends, pets or job you have write it down and end the journaling with ‘ I am enough I have everything I need’ now you’re ready for a relaxing night of sleep.

You are enough, sweet dreams x               

Do you notice the effects of too little sleep on your skin? have you tried any of the above before? what works for you to aid a more restful sleep? tell us in the comments below, or if you want to find out how the effects of too little sleep could be having on your skin, take our online Skin Diagnostic to find out more!