Cosmopolitan Australia – June 2017

‘THE WEE

HOURS IS

WHEN SKIN

GOES INTO

DAMAGE

CONTROL’

asleep, while hidden stressors,

such as hormonal issues, liver

function, infections, blood

sugar and the environment

of the room, wake people up

during the night.’

Designed to work with

your body’s natural rhythms

and get the most out of your

beauty sleep, more potent

night-shift formulations get

to work during the small hours

when blood f low and cell turn-

over are at their peak. All you

have to do is sleep. >

In order to rebuild itself,

during the night-time, the

body suppresses its release of

cortisol (which protects skin

from free radicals throughout

the day) and boosts its release

of human growth hormone (or

HGH) to create the perfect

environment for collagen

making and tissue repair.

But if you regularly skip

your Zs – or toss and turn all

night – cortisol will kick in,

causing those tissue-repairing

growth hormones to call it a

night. Literally. ‘Not getting

enough sleep cuts that crucial

repair time short,’ warns Dr

Harrington. ‘Sleeplessness

increases nighttime cortisol

levels, which increases the

production of [pimple- and
acne-causing] sebum.’ The
result, come morning, is skin
that’s not only tired, but also
inf lamed, prone to premature
ageing, and spots.
If you don’t feel as though
you’re getting enough pillow
time, you’re not alone. ‘Studies
indicate one in three people
will suffer a sleep problem at
some time in their lives,’ says
Dr Harrington.
‘People either can’t get
to sleep or they have trouble
staying asleep,’ adds Cox.
‘There are obvious stressors
like work and relationships,
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK ONKEN which keep us from falling

It’s a story of

sleeping beauty

and her hero... hero

product, that is.

COSMOPOLITAN June 2017 47

beauty