While you’re fast asleep, your body is hard at work, making repairs like construction workers on the nightshift. For example, when you’re in deep sleep, human growth hormone production increases. Your normal release of this hormone plays a key role in healing cells and tissues throughout your body, including your skin.

Not getting enough sleep (and according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 50-70 million U.S. adults have a sleep or wakefulness disorder) cuts that crucial repair time short, which can wreak havoc on your skin. Fine lines become more prominent, dark circles crop up and your complexion turns pale, dull and droopy.

QUIZ:How Well Do You Sleep?

Getting enough Vitamin Z makes you appear more attractive—sort of a reverse beer-goggles effect. In one study, people rated photographs based on attractiveness and whether the individuals in the photos looked healthy or unhealthy as well as tired or not tired. The faces of sleep-deprived participants were ranked as less healthy, less attractive and more tired compared to when they were well rested.

So how exactly does being robbed of your rest affect your appearance? “Several theories exist,” explains John Axelsson, an associate professor at the department of clinical neuroscience at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, who co-authored the study on sleep and appearance. “Sleep may actually affect the skin by reducing its capacity to recover properly, or sleep deprivation may affect muscle tone, resulting in a slightly less attractive appearance.”

THE STUDY, EXPLAINED: Sleep Boosts Beauty

When you sacrifice slumber, you decrease the ability of the skin barrier—also known as the stratum corneum, or the outer-most layer of skin—to recover from the daily damage it endures. That’s problematic because the stratum corneum plays two important roles when it comes to healthy-looking skin: It locks in moisture and prevents foreign microorganisms from getting in. Cells that make up the stratum corneum contain keratin, which is a protein that keeps skin hydrated by preventing water from evaporating.

Not getting enough sleep affects the skin barrier’s ability to do its job and can lead to dehydration, which, in turn, makes fine lines more noticeable. “Moisture helps plumps up your skin—it blows out your wrinkles,” says Robin Ashinoff, M.D., director of cosmetic dermatology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. “Your skin droops more because you don’t have that plumpness. You’ve deflated the balloon.”

Dehydration can also trigger the classic signs of sleep deprivation—dark circles. That’s because there’s less fluid to obscure the blue blood vessels that reside just under your eyes. These blood vessels become more noticeable on the surface, showing up as dark, under-eye circles. “Overall you also look paler because the blood vessels in your face aren’t as full,” says Dr. Ashinoff. In addition to all that, “When you sleep, it’s a regenerative time, so if the skin doesn’t have a chance to turn over, you have dead skill cells sitting on top, causing the skin to look dull.”

MORE: How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

A weakened skin barrier can leave you more vulnerable to foreign microorganisms. Think of the stratum corneum as a bouncer to an exclusive nightclub, carefully picking and choosing who gets to come in. Insufficient time in the sack makes him less discriminating about who enters the club, which is why a compromised skin barrier is associated with inflammatory skin conditions, such as atopic dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis.

Your immune system also becomes compromised when you miss out on getting enough rest. But that doesn’t just leave you more vulnerable to sickness. These changes in the immune response may affect collagen production as well. And collagen helps you maintain a youthful appearance by acting as scaffolding—holding up your skin so it doesn’t wrinkle and sag. Add to that the fact that when you’re tired, your muscles, including facial ones, are more likely to tense up, which can exacerbate your current wrinkles and bring on more fine lines and wrinkles over time.

What’s more, not getting enough z’s may bring on breakouts. “Lack of sleep correlates to physiological stress,” explains dermatologist Neal Schultz, M.D., co-author of “It’s Not Just About Wrinkles: A Park Avenue Dermatologist’s Program for Beautiful Skin—in Just Four Minutes a Day.” Levels of cortisol—the stress hormone that breaks down skin cells and is linked to acne—also spike when you’re missing out on some much-needed pillow time.

BEAUTY AHA: Sleep Eight Hours to Stay Healthy and Happy

Speaking of pillows, your sleeping position can also put a crimp in your complexion. “If you sleep on your side or front, rather than your back, it’s like you’re folding over your skin—except it’s sustained pressure,” says Dr. Schultz. “It’s breaking the collagen, which can give you wrinkles and make your skin look saggy.” Sleeping on your back helps prevent fine lines from being etched into your skin overnight. But if you can’t sleep prone, try slipping on silk or satin pillowcases instead, which are more forgiving and won’t tug at your skin, causing fine lines.

The bottom-line: “Sleep is the body’s natural beauty treatment,” says Axelsson. Rather than shelling out cash on expensive creams or relying heavily on concealer and coffee, try pulling a Sleeping Beauty and getting a full night’s rest instead.

When the fall comes, more and more problems with skin come together. Because of the big difference of temperature between the day and night. So the resistance to decline, coupled with the fall of the air humidity was significantly lower than in the summer, experts advise should be noted that the scientific method of skin care.

For the health and beauty, you’d better follow the tips below to take care of your skin in Autumn.

Hydrate!  Just because it’s not hot, doesn’t mean your body doesn’t require the same amount of hydration.  You don’t breathe less oxygen at the change of seasons, do you?  Be sure to drink enough water to keep your skin hydrated.  Dehydrated skin looks dry, tired and may be prone to more wrinkling. 

Take more vitamins:The old saying ‘you are what you eat’ could not be more true. Whilst bad eating habits may not show overnight it has a cumulative effect on our body and skin. In summer months the skin tends to take on a more improved texture and glow. Sunshine provides us with a photogenic source of vitamin D – not found commonly in foods. The sun also helps relieve symptoms of SAD -Seasonal Affective Disorder -  which can cause lethargy and depression, so make sure you get out and about on sunny autumn days and enjoy and good vitamin D dose.

Moisturize! Topical moisture is just as important as hydrating the skin from the inside.    The best time to moisturize your skin is right after a bath or a shower – the skin has absorbed some of the water from the bath and is ready to have that moisture “sealed in”.  Try a natural oil such as virgin coconut oil, shea butter or avocado oil for all over moisture. 

Eat healthy! Autumn is the best time to visit your farmer’s market for fall fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin, yams, avocado, apples and pears.  You can mash the avocado up for a great facial mask too!Take care of your skin this fall – keep it hydrated, moisturized, and above all eat healthy foods.  The skin is the largest organ of the body and should be treated with care, naturally.

What should be eaten in Autumn? I will tell you in next article.

skin care

For a woman, skin stands for beauty, age and temperament. This is the reason why women keen on the skin care. To the young women, You can not see the visible difference between the two whose skin caring good and caring bad. But when their age past 25 years old, you can find the difference.

Most women think that as long as using upmarket skin care product, the skin will be good. This the a mistakes. Skin care is another element for skin care, but not the most important one. The fundamental elements are your diet and living habit. To sum up, there are seven tips for skin caring:

1. Drink more water every day. Whenever you need, drink water. Water supply your skin and body with the most important nutrition.

2. Internal caring is more important than external caring.

3. Eat more fruit and vegetable. Because there is abundant of vitamin and fibre in the fruit and vegetable.

4. Keep smile and have a good time.The optimist lokks younger and more beautiful than the pessimiste.

5. Go to sleep before 22:00, and do not stay up late.

6. Keep your skin wet in the night. You can use some moist scream before sleeping.

7. Cleaning skin is the first and the important step for skin care.

I think beauty is women’s nature. But not all of them are good at taking good care of their shin. With the time gone, our skin will lost its old beauty, so we need protect it. One of the most popular of varieties is the peel-off mask, which can be removed in one piece after drying. These masks have the added bonus of removing all dead skin cells on the surface, thereby revealing a glowing complexion.

The basic peel-off mask looks like a gooey mess thanks to its combination of ingredients. In fact, it is virtually identical to the recipe for Jell-O since all you need is some plain gelatin and your fruit (or vegetable) juice of choice. sometimes the best cures are the least expected. In your skin’s case, one of the best methods for cleaning pores is, well, more dirt. Gathered from volcanic ash, quarries, and seafloors around the world, cosmetic clay contains a host of skin-nourishing minerals, and its naturally absorbent properties help draw debris, dead skin cells, excess oils, and other toxins from pores.

In fact, there are so many useful beauty goods in our lives. Some fruit and vegetables have abundant nutrition that are good for skin.

DIY Green-Papaya Brightening Mask
1/2 cup unripe papaya, diced
1 teaspoon plain yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
Blend ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Apply to clean skin using fingers; leave on for 8 to 10 minutes. Rinse off using cool water and pat dry. Finish by applying a gentle moisturizer.
If you’re short on time, try a ready-made mask that uses the same active ingredient, papain. Options include: Zia Fresh Papaya Enzyme Mask; Alba Hawaiian Papaya Enzyme Facial Mask; Sensuous Beauty Green Papaya Masque.
Ladies, taking care of your skin like your eyes, you will be looked more young and beautiful!