Does your sleeping position cause wrinkles? The best sleeping position for minimizing aging
Maintaining youthful, glowy, wrinkle-free skin is a billion-dollar industry. Anti-aging creams and serums can cost individuals with vigilant skincare routines a fortune (1.7 ounces of Dior’s anti-aging cream is $7,500). But preserving youthful skin shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg — and it doesn’t have to. Simply reforming the way you sleep can have a massive impact on preventing wrinkles and fine lines on your face and neck.
According to experts, sleeping positions can have long-term impacts on skin appearance.
“This may come as a surprise,” celebrity esthetician Renée Rouleau told Byrdie, “but did you know the second cause of wrinkles is sleeping?”
“After sunlight and UV exposure, squishing your face into a pillow for approximately 2,500 hours per year is like ironing wrinkles into the skin.”
Sleeping on your stomach or side puts pressure on your face for a prolonged period of time and this repeated pressure against the collagen in your face eventually leads to its breakdown and visible lines begin to appear in the face and neck, Dr. Erum Ilyas, a dermatologist in Pennsylvania, explained to Today.
The best sleeping position for minimizing face and neck wrinkles is lying flat on your back.
“Theoretically, then gravity is pulling your face in the right way, everything is uniformly distributed and you don’t have any vectors pulling it in different directions, right or left,” Ilyas told Today.
For a great number of people, it is challenging to get a good night’s rest sleeping on their back. As beneficial as back-sleeping may be for maintaining youthful skin, there are other ways to prevent aging through sleep — and methods to train yourself to sleep on your back.
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How can I sleep at night to prevent wrinkles?
Improving the way you sleep at night can help reduce signs of aging in the face and neck. Here are a few ways proper sleep can keep you young.
1. Get a full night’s sleep
Beauty sleep will cost you nothing, but it’s not a cheap way to improve skin appearance. Consistently getting a full night’s rest will do wonderful things for your skin.
Sleep deprivation leads to hanging eyelids, dark under-eye circle, swollen eyes, more wrinkles or fine lines and more droopy corners around the mouth, revealed a 2013 study published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
“One potential benefit of beauty sleep may be a reduction in wrinkles. The skin is made up of several proteins, such as collagen and elastin, that make the skin elastic and flexible. Research suggests that without sufficient sleep the immune system is weakened, which can impact the quality and strength of collagen,” reports the Sleep Foundation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults get at least seven hours of sleep every night. Collagen production peaks while you sleep, reports WebMD, and getting a full night’s sleep increases collagen production, which helps prevent wrinkling.
2. Sleep on your back
Sleeping on your back is the best way to minimize wrinkles. Repeatedly sleeping on your stomach and side can lead the skin to wrinkle.
“Sleeping face down and pushing skin into the sheets or pillowcases causes the skin to fold and crease and eventually stay permanently over time,” Dr. Rachel Nazarian, a board-certified dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York, explained to Byrdie.
But a large number of people find it difficult to fall asleep on their backs, and even if you can fall asleep on your back, there is not guarantee you will remain that way.
If you are not a natural back sleeper, Dr. Brendan Camp, a double board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology in New York City, suggests trying an anti-aging pillow, per Today. Anti-aging pillows are designed to support your head on both sides and keep you on your back.
“This may prevent you from rubbing and compressing your face against the pillow as you sleep,” Camp told Today. It will also keep your skin products on your face rather than getting absorbed by a pillow.
Anti-aging pillows: Osteo Cervical Pillow, YourFacePillow Beauty Pillow, Pulatree Cervical Pillow.
3. Upgrade your pillowcase
Simply switching your current pillowcase for a silk or satin one can benefit your skin.
Sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase is good for your skin and hair because the material is smooth so “there’s less of a friction coefficient between your skin and the pillowcase,” Ilyas told Today. “So, theoretically, when there’s less friction, there’s less drag so your skin isn’t pulled in one direction versus another and uniformly settles in.”
Silk pillowcases can be pricey, but you can find reasonably priced silk and satin pillowcases on Amazon. It’s a simple swap that could benefit your skin’s appearance.
Silk and satin pillowcases: ZIMASILK 100% Mulberry Silk Pillowcase, Bedsure Satin Pillowcase, Mulberry Silk Pillowcase.
4. Prevent sun damage with daily sunscreen use
When it comes to anti-aging (and preventing skin cancer), daily sunscreen use — even during the winter — is the best thing you can do for your skin.
A 2013 study revealed that regular sunscreen prevented wrinkling, sun spots and loss of elasticity in the skin.
More than 900 participants were followed for over four years. Some of the participants were told to regularly and properly apply sunscreen while others were given no directions regarding their sunscreen use.
Researchers found that those who regularly applied sunscreen were 24% less likely to show signs of aging.
“We now have the scientific evidence to back the long-held assumption about the cosmetic value of sunscreen,” Dr. Adele Green, the study’s lead author, told CNN. “Regular sunscreen use by young and mid-aged adults under 55 brings cosmetic benefits and also decreases the risk of skin cancer.”
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