Your skin ages faster (!) when you're sleep-deprived. It's bad enough that a few sleepless nights can do a number on your face (those puffy eyes and dark circles tell the tale), but a new study from Case Medical Center in Ohio found that lack of sleep actually ages your skin faster, too. The study (aptly titled "The Effects of Sleep Quality on Skin Aging and Function") followed 60 women who fell into two categories (good sleepers and poor sleepers) based on a standardized sleep-quality test. Their skin was measured using the SCINEXA system -- a scoring method dermatologists use to rate how old your skin looks.
The poor sleepers had more wrinkles, uneven tone, and less elasticity, all of which translates to older-looking skin. The difference was significant: good sleepers had (literally) 100 percent better-looking skin, says Elma Baron, MD, director of the Skin Study Center at UH Case Medical Center. Statistically speaking: that's a score of 2.2 (good) for the good sleepers vs. 4.4 (bad) for the bad sleepers (a newborn baby's skin would be a zero).
SEE NEXT PAGE: Lack of sleep is like a hangover for your skin that never goes away.
The poor sleepers had more wrinkles, uneven tone, and less elasticity, all of which translates to older-looking skin. The difference was significant: good sleepers had (literally) 100 percent better-looking skin, says Elma Baron, MD, director of the Skin Study Center at UH Case Medical Center. Statistically speaking: that's a score of 2.2 (good) for the good sleepers vs. 4.4 (bad) for the bad sleepers (a newborn baby's skin would be a zero).
SEE NEXT PAGE: Lack of sleep is like a hangover for your skin that never goes away.