“Beauty and Your Sleep: Study Spells Out the Science Behind Beauty Rest - ABC News” plus 1 more

Beauty and Your Sleep: Study Spells Out the Science Behind Beauty Rest - ABC News

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 10:36 AM PST

By BRADLEY BLACKBURN

Dec. 15, 2010

Did you get your beauty rest last night?

Swedish researchers say there's an important link between sleep and your physical appearance. In a study published today in the British Medical Journal, researcher John Axelsson and his team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that sleep-deprived individuals appear less healthy, more tired, and less attractive than those who have received a full night's worth of sleep.

"Sleep is the body's natural beauty treatment," Axelsson said. "It's probably more effective than any other treatment you could buy."

Subjects Photographed Before and After Sleep Deprivation

In the study, 23 healthy adults from ages 18 to 31 were first photographed after eight hours of sleep, wearing no makeup. The same adults were photographed again after sleeping only five hours and being kept awake for a full 31 hours, with the same lighting and camera settings.

The photos were rated by 65 untrained observers who graded the images in these three categories -- how healthy, attractive, and tired the individuals appeared. On the whole, the participants were judged to be worse-off after sleep deprivation, in all categories, and the scientists believe the effects would be even more dramatic in person, when factors like blink rate and drowsiness could be observed.

Only one photo set was publicly released from the sample, showing a young man. After sleep deprivation, his eyes seem duller and the skin under his eyes appear puffy.

While the effects in Axelsson's research were observed after severe sleep deprivation, he says his team will soon tackle whether an occasional short night of sleep can also cause problems. This experiment called for severe deprivation because the scientists wanted to maximize any effects.

"We cannot really say when the effects start ... if it's six hours or five hours, but it probably starts gradually," Axelsson said. "It's possible that you get these effects through chronic sleep deprivation as well,"

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Beauty rest, getting enough? If not, you might be looking a bit less attractive - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 11:48 AM PST

A Swedish study found that people were judged to be less healthy and less attractive if they were sleep deprived. Here are photos used in the study that show a subject well rested, left, and sleep-deprived, right. (British Medical Journal)

By Mary Forgione, For the Los Angeles Times

2:53 p.m. EST, December 15, 2010

la-heb-beauty-sleep-20101215

Beauty sleep does make a difference in how you look – and how you look to others. A new study finds that people who don't get their beauty sleep could appear to be unhealthy and unattractive.

The Swedish study published in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday measured the effects of sleep using 23 adults who were photographed before and after they were deprived of sleep. Observers then viewed randomly selected photos and rated their perceptions of the people in them.

Not surprisingly, the sleep-deprived folks got low marks on the healthy and attractive scale. Those who scrimp on sleep don't just feel tired, they look it too, the study said. Here's an abstract of the findings and the full study.

And you can't make up sleep loss as quickly as you think, this Los Angeles Times story says.

So it pays to work on your beauty rest. Not good news for new moms and dads, though.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Health and Beauty

Wednesday, December 15, 2010