The Science of Beauty Sleep: How Quality Zzz’s Benefit Your Skin

“Get your beauty sleep” isn’t just a saying—it’s a nod to the remarkable regenerative processes that reach their peak as you snooze. As you drift off, your skin cells kick into high gear, working to neutralize the stress of the day and repair damaged tissue. When you get top-quality sleep night after night, this results in healthier, more radiant skin before you’ve even poured the coffee. But, for those of us who struggle to keep a consistent sleep schedule, those lost hours of rest can start to show in the skin.

Whether you’re a restful sleeper or a toss-and-turner, we’re here to optimize your beauty rest with a complete overview of how sleep affects your skin, how to maximize the benefits of your nightly skincare, and how to improve your sleep quality for morning radiance.

The Science Behind Beauty Sleep: What Happens to Your Skin While You Sleep?

Your skin behaves differently at night than during the day, creating a prime environment for healing and regeneration. This comes down to your skin’s circadian clock genes, which help regulate your internal clock and sleep-wake cycle. Crucial aspects of your skin’s health are affected by your circadian rhythm, including:

Transepidermal water loss is the amount of water your skin loses through its outermost layer. It’s a key measure of skin barrier function and tends to increase at night.
- Omnilux Pro Tip: Water loss is no match for our quenching Hyaluronic Acid Serum! Add it to your nightly skincare routine to draw in and retain moisture while you snooze.
Skin permeability: While skin loses more water at night, it’s also more permeable, meaning substances (like your favorite skincare products) can more effectively move through its layers in the evening. This is why your nightly beauty routine is an unmatched opportunity to work toward your skin goals.
Collagen production: Your body releases more growth hormone at night, stimulating collagen production. Collagen fibers help plump, strengthen, and rejuvenate the skin.
- Omnilux Pro Tip: Omnilux Contour Face and Omnilux Men red light therapy devices are clinically proven to ramp up collagen production, making them excellent additions to your nighttime regimen for maximum benefits.

Keratinocyte production: Keratinocytes are skin cells that make up most of the epidermis and play a significant role in skin healing. Your body produces more of them at night.
Blood flow to the skin increases while you sleep, boosting your skin’s supply of oxygen and vital nutrients.
Cortisol: Your body releases less cortisol, the primary stress hormone, during sleep. This calms inflammation and facilitates healing throughout the night.

These circadian variations mean your skin repairs and regenerates damaged cells more effectively at night. It also means that the skin is more receptive to treatments, like red light therapy, during the evening hours.

Adding at-home red light therapy with the Omnilux Contour Face or Omnilux Men mask to your nightly skincare routine can amplify the benefits of your beauty sleep. These FDA-cleared devices stimulate collagen production to smooth wrinkles, enhance skin firmness, and help reduce visible signs of sun damage. Just 10 minutes of use before applying your topical products will prime your skin for healing, making your sleep even more regenerative.

Follow up your red light session with plenty of hydration to combat increased transdermal water loss during sleep. Products like our Hyaluronic Acid Serum help your skin attract and retain moisture, locking in hydration before your head hits the pillow. CoQ10 Face Cream is another nourishing choice, with a nutrient-rich formula designed specifically for post-LED light therapy use.

How Poor Sleep Impacts Your Skin

Sometimes, life gets in the way of your seven to nine hours of nightly beauty sleep. Unfortunately, whether due to stress, work obligations, travel, or sleep conditions like insomnia, chronic poor sleep can do a number on your skin.

Consistently poor sleep is linked to accelerated skin aging and diminished skin barrier function. It robs your skin of the chance to repair damaged cells, making wrinkles, dark under-eyes, discoloration, and dullness more prominent.

Omnilux Pro Tip: Calm under-eye stress with our targeted Eye Brightener, a mini red light device made specifically to treat fine lines & wrinkles, and puffy under-eyes, and Antioxidant Eye Cream, a nourishing, antioxidant-rich topical to help hydrate, soften, and brighten dark circles.

Additionally, sleep deprivation contributes to elevated cortisol levels. This may not only leave you feeling stressed, but also increase skin redness, swelling, and irritation. High cortisol levels can even accelerate your skin’s oil production, increasing the risk of clogged pores and acne breakouts.

Enhancing Your Beauty Sleep with a Restorative Nightly Routine

If your current sleep schedule is less than optimal, don’t worry—it’s never too late to start with a blank slate. Here are our top tips to protect and enhance your beauty sleep for gorgeous mornings to come.

Naturally Improve Your Melatonin Levels

Melatonin is a hormone that helps you feel sleepy before bedtime, making it easier to catch high-quality z’s. While aging, light exposure, and working into the night can all compromise melatonin production, we have a few strategies to get it back on track.

First off, block out all blue light before bed. Blue light suppresses melatonin production (and it’s not good for your skin, either). This means setting aside your phone, closing your laptop, and switching off the TV a few hours before bedtime.

Red light, on the other hand, doesn’t upset sleep cycles like bright blue light. On the contrary, red light therapy can support and enhance your body’s natural melatonin production, leading to improved sleep quality and duration. That’s yet another reason to make Omnilux red light therapy the star of your bedtime routine!

Bonus tip: Looking for a way to bolster muscle recovery while you sleep and wake up feeling refreshed? Red light therapy is known to naturally boost muscle repair, reduce inflammation, and calm joint pain.

Indulge in Clean Silk Pillowcases

In the world of pillowcase fabrics, silk is the gold standard. Its lusciously smooth texture won’t tug at your skin, helping to keep it smooth and wrinkle-free throughout the night. Silk also doesn’t absorb as much moisture as cotton or linen, helping to keep your skin hydrated while limiting microbial buildup.

Along with making the satin switch, wash your pillowcases weekly. Leaving more time between washes allows bacteria to accumulate in the fabric, exposing your skin to acne-causing microbes.

Try Sleeping On Your Back

It can be challenging to change your sleeping position. But, if you’re up for it, sleeping on your back offers some serious perks for your skin. With your face in an upturned position, your skin won’t be pulled down by gravity or creased by your pillow. This can help slow the progression of fine lines and wrinkles over time.

Consider a Sound Machine

If you struggle to fall asleep, a sound machine may create the calming, sleep-inducing environment your body is craving. By muffling other, less-than-tranquil sounds (like traffic or those noisy neighbors) and promoting relaxation, sound machines are valuable tools for sleep quality.

The best sound to help you drift off is a personal choice. Sound machines often offer multiple options, like white noise, rain, and ocean waves. Alternatively, turn on a playlist of binaural beats for sleep—these sounds may help you reach a relaxed, meditative mindset, making it easier to fall asleep. Some research shows that binaural beats can even improve sleep quality.