Can Better Sleep Improve Your Hair?

Restless nights, sleepless nights, troubled nights... do these sound familiar to you?

Insomnia. We've all experienced it before, in one way or another. That feeling when you just want to sleep, but can't. Or maybe you did manage to fall asleep, only to wake up still feeling tired and worn out in the morning. Just a few nights of this, and you begin to notice the changes happening in your body: your skin is starting to look clammy, your eyes bloodshot, and your hair, oh my. Your hair is an absolute disaster.

Now, you ask yourself: can better sleep improve your hair? Let's find out.

Can better sleep improve your hair?

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, your regular sleep habits have a lot of impact on your general health.

Sleep plays a vital role in ensuring that your body is always in tiptop shape. You see, your body takes advantage of the time you're sleeping in order to make necessary repairs behind the scenes. If you don't get sufficient sleep, your body won't have enough time to fix whatever needs fixing, which could be detrimental to your health.

Sleep also impacts your hair growth. After all, you're not giving your body enough time to rest and repair itself, and that includes your own hair.

Effects of lack of sleep

Lack of sleep can have a lot of negative impacts, but here are some of the most common ones that are related to hair:

• Higher levels of stress. We've already talked about stressed hair before. Stressed hair is dry, frizzy, and generally just unhealthy. Plus, if your hair stays stressed for a long period of time, it can cause eventual hair thinning and even hair loss. Yikes!
• Reduced stem cell activity. The activity of stem cells in your body is what creates epithelial cells for hair growth. If you lack enough sleep, you'll also have reduced stem cell activity, which could hinder healthy hair growth.

As you can see, better sleep can improve not just your hair, but also your life! Remember to get those 8 hours in tonight, preferably with some lovely silk pillows to give your hair some love!

For more hair tips and tricks, check out our ZALA blog!