Beauty Sleep, What? How your sleeping position is aging your skin

Beauty Sleep, What? How your sleeping position is making your skin age faster

Sarah Khan

26 Dec 2017

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1. Sleeping on Your Stomach
Verdict: The Worst Position

Sleeping face-down on your stomach is possibly the worst sleeping position when it comes to preventing sleep wrinkles. Have you ever woken up from a slumber with a “pillow face” - with vertical lines or sleep marks all over? If yes, that is a preview of the sleep-induced wrinkles that are forming on your face, typically starting with the forehead lines.
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2. Curled up on your side
Verdict: Not Recommended (though beneficial in other ways)

Although sleeping on your side has been proven to be beneficial for your health, it can also create vertical lines on your cheeks and chin. This also reinforces vertical expression wrinkles, like frown lines and the lines around your lips. To avoid this, try alternating the sides you sleep on each night to ease the effects.
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3. Sleeping on Your Back
Verdict: The Best Position

The best way to avoid sleep wrinkles is to avoid facial contact with your pillow altogether. Not only does eliminating any facial contact with your pillow helps you avoid sleep wrinkles. It’s a great way to prevent any breakouts caused by the bacteria on your pillow. In addition, this position also lets the fluids in your body drain properly, which prevents those dreaded morning puffy eyes!

Did you know that second-most common cause of wrinkles is sleep?

From its collagen-boosting benefits, there is plenty of science behind “beauty sleep”. However, did you know that something as simple (and seemingly harmless) as your sleep position could cause your delicate skin to age prematurely?

This may come as a surprise but sleep is in fact the second most common cause of wrinkles. Following exposure to sunlight or UV rays, nestling your face into a pillow can in fact “stamp” wrinkles onto your skin.

What Are Sleep Wrinkles?

Sleep wrinkles are formed as as result of pressing your face into the pillow as you sleep. Given that you spend more of your time sleeping relative to making facial expressions (i.e. frowns, or smiles), sleep-induced wrinkles could be aging you far more than you think.

And unlike expression lines (which you can avoid by wearing sunglasses to prevent squinting in the sun), it’s harder to “treat” sleep wrinkles. Tweaking your sleep position is the only way to prevent sleep lines.

In the gallery above, we’ve outlined the most common sleep positions and investigate how they contribute to fine lines and wrinkles. Are you guilty of any?

Sarah Khan

Photos: Getty Images

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