Sleep yourself beautiful

By respecting your body's natural sleeping pattern and circadian rhythms you can help your skin to maintain collagen production and cell renewal, so that it can provide better protection against harmful elements.

Cell growth and renewal is not only faster at night, but the body produces more of the growth hormone that enables it to absorb amino acids in food and convert them into protein in order to promote tissue repair.

NOURISH YOUR SKIN AT NIGHT

Should you use a specific night cream? The composition of day and night creams does not differ much, and in the past a basic moisturiser for use by day and at night was seen as being sufficient. But now cosmetic houses argue that because the skin activity at night is different to what it is during the day, different formulas are indeed required.

The first argument is that the skin's ability to absorb active ingredients is better at night. For this reason night creams can contain higher concentrations of these ingredients. Skin is more receptive to active ingredients at night for two reasons: its temperature rises and active substances are therefore absorbed more readily; and there is no interference from external factors and make-up.

The second argument for using a night cream is that daytime moisturisers often contain sunscreens, or ingredients for combating puffiness and shine, which are not necessary at night. In their book The 21st Century Beauty Bible (Kyle Cathie Limited), Sarah Stacey and Josephine Fairley point out that sunscreens in daytime moisturisers can irritate the skin and lead to such skin reactions as redness and stinging, or cause a reaction similar to eczema. If you use such moisturisers at night the skin is unnecessarily overloaded with chemicals.

Using a night cream becomes more important with age, as the skin's resistance to hormonal changes and environmental factors eventually declines. If your skin is dry, especially in winter, a night cream that is richer than your daily moisturiser and too heavy to wear during the day can provide extra moisture.

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