Are naps good for your skin? Yes, beauty rest is a thing—not just the name of a mattress company! Naps have the potential to benefit your mind and body, making them a best-kept secret to look your best at any age. Let’s explore why and how napping can improve your skin and outlook.
The Benefits of Napping
Naps aren’t just for children or the chronologically experienced anymore! In fact, a midday doze doesn't make you old; it makes you smart! Of course, naps help babies and young children meet their daily sleep requirements, ranging from nine to 17 hours per day, depending on their age. It can make all the difference in their behavior, language learning, memory, and emotional self-regulation. Adults don’t need as many hours, but the result is similar.
Are naps good for you? Absolutely. Naps are the perfect 360-degree pick-me-up. With so many positive benefits of napping, we're yearning for that kindergarten nap time we enjoyed as kids. We’ll be right back, it’s naptime! Yawn. Okay, now that we’ve given ourselves the ultimate reset, we’re ready to share why you should nap, too!
Did you know a mid-afternoon snooze can improve physical and mental health? Giving yourself a break to regroup with a nap and starting fresh on the other side can ensure more energy and positivity afterward. Michael Grandner, Ph.D., director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona and a medical-review panel member for SleepFoundation.org, likened napping to having a snack between meals to energize you through the rest of your day. Makes sense, right?
Here are the top reasons why napping is beneficial:
Enhances cognitive health: Naps are shown to improve mental clarity and brain health. Naps boost thinking, work performance, quicker response times, and alertness. Over time, they increase gray matter, facilitating emotion regulation, learning, memory, and perspective. When you’re well-rested, you perform better. Period.
Supports physical health: Naps and sleeping are vital to your health. Your body repairs itself while you sleep, supporting stronger immunity, heart health, and weight management. This repair includes your epidermis, the outermost layer of your skin.
Circulation boost: Naps facilitate better circulation, fueling your mind and body for better head-to-toe cell oxygenation and nourishment. This circulation boost delivers a radiant glow to your complexion and helps control bacteria, minimizing breakouts.
Stress reduction: Proven to help manage stress, naps aid mental and physical health. And less stress encourages better sleep. Less stress equals fewer stress-induced breakouts and rosacea flare-ups, creating a beautifying cycle of skin health.
If any of the following scenarios sound like you and you want to maintain your skin health, a nap is in order:
Short on sleep: Naps are ideal after late nights working or playing. In addition to improving moods, energy levels, and appearance, they enable follow-through on plans to exercise, which is vital for a glowy complexion. But beware, routinely skimping on sleep and using naps as a long-term supplement could create an insurmountable sleep debt.
Regular midday slump: Do you often get to the middle of your day and think you can’t make it through? While energy drinks may seem like a good way to power through, they can trigger breakouts, dehydration, and premature aging. Sure, a caffeine jolt is effective in the short term, but naps are crash-free, don’t upset your skin, and allow time to regroup and start anew.
Word recall: Unable to recall a particular word now and then? There’s a nap for that! Napping from 30 to 90 minutes can help you find that word on the tip of your tongue, think more clearly, and even draw better—all signs of good cognition.
Nap guilt: While catching a few ZZZs in the afternoon may seem lazy or selfish, ironically, resting and caring for yourself can make you more effective and pour more generously from your cup. If you still feel guilty about napping, add in a face mask —at least you’ll feel like you’re being productive while tuning out!
Time Your Naps
When to nap and for how long are billion-dollar beauty questions! Most sleep researchers recommend napping before 2 p.m. to avoid sleep disruption, with 3 p.m. being the outside window. Assuming you eat lunch around noon, your blood sugar levels start to dip at this time. Any later than 3 p.m. could tempt you to postpone your bedtime, disrupting your nighttime slumber.
But there are some exceptions. A 1 p.m. siesta may work better if you wake up exceptionally early. Research finds that 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. is the best time for those in their golden years to snooze due to shifts in their sleep-wake cycles. And folks who work night shifts when the rest of us are snug in our beds might consider late-day naps before clocking in to repay their sleep debt. To find your sweet spot, pay attention to when your alertness dips, and head it off at the pass.
Nap timing is critical. Experts caution against snoozing an entire hour and overdoing naptime. Just 20 - 30 minutes is adequate to give your body and mind ample time to rest, boost alertness, and put you in a better mood. Researchers discovered that when people hit the nap sweet spot of 30 minutes, they felt more refreshed, satisfied, well-rested, and in less pain.
Power nappers also benefited. Even 10 minutes in the early afternoon restores and refreshes those suffering from wakefulness during the night, and energy declines throughout the day. Want proof? NASA scientists tested astronauts and found power naps boosted their alertness and performance.
Beyond that can be counterproductive. You could enter a deeper sleep stage, accompanied by slower brain waves. When we awaken amidst slow-wave sleep, it causes us to awaken groggy, cranky, and disoriented, also known as sleep inertia. We can even emerge feeling more tired, achy, and anxious, likely attributable to the duration of naps.
However, should you be extremely sleep-deprived, go ahead and sleep a full hour to an hour and a half. At this length, you’ll enter the lighter sleep stages and feel more alert when you wake.
For seniors, there is conflicting evidence about the best duration. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published a study indicating that older adults taking 30 to 90-minute naps experienced brain benefits. Yet others maintain that 20 to 40-minute cat naps are best and that snoozing any longer has the makings of grogginess upon awakening and potential cognition issues and insomnia.
Who Takes Naps?
Approximately 1/3 of U.S. adults prioritize their daily naps, with more men than women taking advantage. About 43% of U.S. full-time workers regularly nap during workday breaks! Think you can’t wrangle a midday nap? If they can do it, so can you!
Who Should Take Naps?
Most healthy adults can skip napping, but naps can be genuine game-changers for many of us who want to lay our heads down on our keyboards after lunch. However, studies show that nearly anyone who experiences daytime sleepiness will benefit, as few of us are immune to the mid-day slump and accompanying lack of mental sharpness and energy.
So, if you can’t get your minimum number of hours of nightly shuteye (as few of us do), chances are napping is for you! And, unlike that double or triple latte, naps are a free, budget-approved way to recharge your brain and replenish energy stores.
But is napping for everyone? Not necessarily. It’s essential to be aware of your personal sleep cycle and your body to choose the right solution for you. Ask yourself how you felt when you napped and if it affected your sleep. If you notice that naps disturb your regular sleeping pattern or you aren’t revitalized afterward, they may not be for you.
People with insomnia are now advised to refrain, as naps can disrupt their nighttime sleep schedule. If this is you, get outdoors in the sunshine to help restore your energy, and consult your sleep doctor before making any changes to their recommendations.
Signs Of Too Little Rest
If the foundation for a good night’s sleep is the bedrock of beautiful skin, a mini sleep (aka a nap) is the next best thing. We all know the telltale signs of too little rest. Dark circles, sagging, puffy eyes, fine lines, and a paler complexion announce to the world that you burned the midnight oil.
Without adequate rest, blood flow decreases, and your skin doesn’t have time to recover its stores of collagen or repair UV damage. The result is skin that ages more quickly. If that’s not enough to encourage you to nap, we don’t know what is!
Combining naps with clean skincare can improve satisfaction with the quality of your skin. Our picks for camouflaging lack of sleep during the day and capitalizing on the overnight period of repair to make fatigued skin look glowy and healthy again:
• Hydrating Cleanser – Cleanses while counteracting moisture loss. • Hyaluronic Acid Face Mist – Tones and boosts moisture levels. Pro Tip: Spritz on after a nap to refresh your make-up and “wake up” your face! • Hyaluronic Acid Hydra-Serum – An unequaled thirst-quenching Hyaluronic Acid Serum + Marine Collagen Serum in one. • "C" Évolutive Eye Gel – Diminishes puffiness and dark circles.
Pro Tip: Keep it and our stainless steel roller in the refrigerator for a more effective de-puffing application.
• EyeRenew™ Conceal & De-Age – Revives tired-looking eye contours and achieves a crease-free blurring effect. • Marine Collagen Cream – Revitalizes dullness, surface dehydration, and fine lines, perfect for sleep-deprived skin. • Pevonia YouthRenew Tinted Cream – Conceals uneven skin tone, minimizes fine lines, calms redness, and protects from UV rays.
Tips To Nap Better
Who knew there was a better way to nap? Peruse the following to make your nap time count!
Set the environment: Find or create a calm, dark, and cool place to nap. If that is not possible, an eye mask and a fan can help.
Turn it off: Silence phone and computer notifications, then turn off your head. Mentally set aside your to-do list before closing your eyes, gently reminding yourself you’ll be able to tackle it with better mental sharpness (and a better attitude) after your nap.
Cancel the noise: If the loud mid-day hustle and bustle won't let you relax, try earplugs, noise-cancelling headphones, or white noise to block it out.
Use essential oils: Dab our De-Stress Escape Aromatic Oil with lavender essential oil onto your temples and inhale deeply to help you drift off into a mini nap vacay from the daily grind.
Minimize nap guilt: Remind yourself that naps are good for you, not an indulgence. We must remove the stigma that it is lazy to conk out for a snooze.
Try caffeine: Consume a small amount of caffeine (i.e., dark chocolate or a cup of tea) immediately pre-nap, which allows the caffeine time to take effect, circumventing groggy sleep inertia upon waking.
Keep it short: If you feel sluggish or fatigued during the day, a short 20-minute nap may be enough to put back some pep in your step.
Set an alarm: An alarm will ensure you nap for the appropriate time and don’t undermine its beneficial results.
Make a reservation: Nap on a sofa or in a comfy chair, reserve your bed for actual sleep. This informs your body and mind that it is a nap, maintaining the association between your bed and nighttime rest, while facilitating waking up and getting going.
Add meditation: Settle into it with a meditation app and breathwork to help calm you and decrease stress and anxiety, triggers for acne and rosacea.
Is Napping for You?
Although napping isn’t for everyone, almost anyone can learn to nap and reap the rewards. Who doesn’t want to feel energized and look more refreshed?
If you arise feeling like a well-rested rockstar (that may be an oxymoron, but you get the gist!), keep it up. It isn’t a guilty indulgence but rather a healthy self-care practice. For those who nap within the recommended timeframes yet still feel sluggish, put some thought and effort into your sleep routine to see what you can improve. Should tiredness during the day continue after prioritizing slumber, see a physician or sleep doctor who can provide professional assessment and testing to help you get the sleep you need.
Feel like Sleepy, Dopey, and Grumpy all rolled into one? Naps are just what Doc would have ordered! So, don't be bashful about napping to feel more awake, sharper, and easygoing. No, it’s not Fantasyland! With these reasons and tips, we think you’ll make napping part of your self-care practice.
Related Articles
