Category — Health

Everyone has heard of the term ‘beauty sleep’ though only a small number of us ever really bother to understand the facts behind the claim. Some people swear by their beauty sleep, but what is the science behind this? The idea is not that you can go to night looking one way and wake up as a much more beautiful person – miracles like that just don’t happen. But it will make you look more healthy and the best you can.

The effects of sleep deprivation are clear to see on anyone’s face: they will appear tired, their skin will be duller, there will be bags under their eyes, and all of these will be easy to see. Not only this, but poor sleep will sometimes affect weight loss, as well as increasing levels of stress. Beauty sleep will make your skin brighter and reduce all of these effects.

So what is the science behind these claims? First, sleep helps our bodies to produce growth hormones and reduce stress hormones, which is essential for fat loss. Stress hormones will often increase our appetite, meaning that if we don’t get the sleep we need to reduce these hormones it is more than likely we will be eating a lot more than usual, as well as affecting our metabolism which helps to burn off fat. Growth hormones are produced while we sleep, though this also depends on the quality of the sleep we are getting. We need a really deep sleep to feel the full benefits, after which these growth hormones will begin to negate the effects of excess stress hormones as well as repairing our bodies.

So how can we get this beauty sleep? Continue reading next week for some more tips on waking up beautiful ….. Beauty Sleep Part 2

Is sweet breath part of your beauty package? You better believe it. A huge source of bad breath comes from not flossing your teeth! You can brush religiously, and scrape that tongue, but if you do not floss then forget it! Food particles stuck in there literally decay for days. You know how rotting food smells. If you don’t believe me, and you are not a regular flosser, floss between your teeth and then smell your floss. Eww!!

But what’s the best way to give your breath a quick check? Most people try huffing into their cupped hand and sniffing it. That might give you a clue, but not likely. The best way to check for bad breath is to lick the back of your hand and smell it. Don’t try this at the dinner table if you’re on a date though. Save it for when you are in the bathroom checking various other things like brocolli in your teeth and whether you got your panty lines smoothed out. Make sure you wash your hand too. If your breath is hanus, beg some mints from other gals in the bathroom, or chew on a sprig of parsley to freshen up in an emergency.