14 DAY TRIAL // We often hear jokes – or even more serious remarks – about how one needs to get one’s “beauty sleep,” meaning a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night. A recent study gives some credibility to the myth.
Which, at the end of the day, may not even be a myth after all. Swedish researchers have learned that people not getting enough sleep at night (8 hours at least) are actually less attractive than they’d be otherwise, Gawker informs.
In other words, if you want to look your best, make sure you don’t deprive yourself of sleep because there’s the key to looking good.
“Scientists from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute took two sets of photos of 23 men and women: Once after the subjects had eight hours of sleep, and once after they’d spent 31 continuous hours awake,” Gawker reports.
“For the photos, the subjects maintained the same facial expression, the same distance from the camera, and didn’t wear makeup either time,” the report further notes.
“A group of observers then rated each photo based on a series of qualities, including health and attractiveness,” Gawker says.
Not surprisingly, people were considered less attractive in the photos taken after the 31-hour sleep-less marathon.
“The observers rated the sleep-deprived as less healthy, more tired and less attractive than those who had had enough sleep,” researchers say of the findings of the study.
While busy women like Martha Stewart brag about making it big in life with as little as 4 hours of sleep every night, health experts warn of the dangers of not getting proper rest.
Some couples even go to great lengths to make sure their life in common does not disrupt their sleep cycle and they get separate beds in separate rooms to rest well at night, as we also noted on a previous occasion.
Getting a good night’s sleep is not only good for our looks but also for our health. For more tips on how to make sure you’re getting enough rest at night, see here.