Getting plenty of quality sleep is a key factor to looking your best – hence the term ‘beauty sleep’. Unfortunately, no matter how much beauty sleep you get, you can’t sleep away deep facial wrinkles.
If you wake up with deep lines or creases on your face that won’t seem to go away, you may be developing sleep wrinkles.
The entire idea seems a bit frustrating, doesn’t it?
I mean, we’re told to get plenty of sleep to ward off signs of aging…yet the simple act of sleep itself may be causing our youth-stealing wrinkles!
How can we enjoy the age-defying benefits that a good night’s sleep can offer while avoiding sleep wrinkles?
We’ve gathered up the best information to help you understand what actually causes sleep wrinkles and the most effective ways to prevent them!
What Causes Sleep Wrinkles
Have you ever woken up and noticed deep creases or lines on the side of your face? These lines occur after sleeping in a position that puts direct pressure on one side of your face.
In your younger days, those creases and lines probably faded away pretty quickly after waking up. But as you get older, you may notice those sleep lines sticking around a bit longer than you’d like.
As we age, our skin naturally loses collagen and elastic tissue. This makes it difficult for your skin to bounce back to normal.
This loss of collagen and elasticity also means that those once-temporary creases and lines begin to settle in as more permanent sleep wrinkles.
But losing of collagen and elasticity as you age is not the only cause of sleep wrinkles.
Plain and simple, sleep wrinkles are caused by repetitive stretching, pressing, and pulling on the skin while you sleep.
When you sleep with your face mashed into a pillow, night after night, year after year…the constant pressure works to break down your skin’s already dwindling supply of collagen.1
The result? You got it – unattractive sleep wrinkles. They are called “sleep lines” for a reason.
How to Prevent Sleep Wrinkles
When it comes to preventing sleep wrinkles from forming, there are a few different strategies that you can try.
And if you’re already dealing with frustrating facial lines, some of these methods may help treat your sleep wrinkles in addition to preventing new ones from appearing.
1. Sleep on Your Back
Sleeping on your back is one of the most effective ways to prevent sleep wrinkles – and one of the cheapest!
Sleeping on your stomach or side means that your face is constantly smushed into your pillow. This ‘smushing’ means that constant pressure is being applied to your face. This repeated pressure produces unsightly sleep lines and wrinkles2
By sleeping on your back, you eliminate any possible pressure that your face might endure during the night.
Not a back sleeper? I feel your pain. I’ve tried – and failed – countless times to sleep on my back in an effort to prevent sleep wrinkles. Back sleeping just isn’t naturally comfortable for me.
If you struggle to sleep on your back, you can try buying a special pillow to encourage back sleeping, such as a wedge pillow.
For a more affordable option, try purchasing one of the contour travel pillows. Sleeping with a travel pillow around your neck will help your body stay put and keep your neck comfortable.
2. Upgrade your Pillowcase
If sleeping on your back just won’t work, you can try changing up your pillowcase. Sleeping on a cotton-silk or silk pillowcase can help reduce sleep wrinkles.
“With a silk pillowcase, your skin slides on the pillow,” says Debra Jaliman, MD, a New York City-based dermatologist.3
Basically, a silk pillowcase eliminates the wrinkle-inducing traction that other fabrics might cause. Your skin will simply glide over the pillowcase rather than mushing up against it.
3. Change Your Pillow
When it comes to pillow choice, your options are pretty vast. You can find pillows targeted to help a variety of different sleep related concerns – including wrinkles.4
Consider replacing your pillow with one of the following options to prevent sleep wrinkles.
1. Feather Pillow:Combining a silk pillowcase with a feather pillow may be the perfect solution for preventing sleep wrinkles. Feather pillows are soft and mold to the contours of your face without creating added pressure that causes sleep wrinkles.
2. Specialty Pillow: There are a variety of specialty pillows designed to alleviate facial pressure when you sleep. Pillows like the NIGHT Pillow, the JuveRest Sleep Wrinkle Pillow, or the Save My Face Pillow all help to reduce facial contact with the pillow surface, thus reducing facial wrinkles.
Similar to specialty wrinkle pillows, there are a couple of sleep products that are specifically geared towards preventing the formation of sleep wrinkles.
Two of the most popular products are:
Frownies: Frownies are little cardboard-like facial patches. You apply Frownie patches to your face before going to sleep in order to smooth out existing wrinkles and prevent new ones.
Syla Sleep Mask: The Syla Sleep Mask is very similar to an traditional eye mask – but you wear it around your forehead rather than your eyes. The idea is that it keeps your skin in place and prevents creasing, which helps reduce wrinkles on your forehead or around your eyes, making your eyes look bright and youthful.
5. Specialty Creams
If you don’t have any anti-aging creams or lotions in your skin care regimen, you need to get some immediately! Certain topical products can help to stimulate collagen production and train your skin to look younger.
Retinol: Retinol is a derivative or Vitamin A which is a powerful collagen stimulator. By reactivating collagen in your skin, you can help your skin bounce back from sleep lines and creases. 4
Try one of the following options to prevent sleep wrinkles.
For the highest strength retinol, you may need a prescription. But there are tons of OTC options that will help fight against sleep wrinkles when applied nightly.
Night Cream: Night creams are simply moisturizers that would likely be too thick and heavy for daytime use. Greasy is never a good look during the day – but at night, you can get away with it in an effort to prevent sleep wrinkles.
Look for an ultra-moisturizing cream that contains hyaluronic acid – an ingredient known for plumping up skin. Slathering on a thick cream will also help your face glide across your silk pillow better than dry skin would. Plus, your skin repairs itself while you sleep and having a little assistance from an intense moisturizer will only help fight those sleep wrinkles.
If you prefer a more natural route, many people like the way that coconut oil keeps their skin soft and wrinkle-free.
How do you prevent your skin from wrinkling in your sleep? Let me know in the comments below!
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