Skincare Secret Weapon: A Good Night’s Sleep (Part 2)

In my last post, I attempted to scare you straight about the importance of a good night’s sleep for health and beauty. This time I will give a few tips on how to maximize these benefits to get the most out of the sleep you get. As someone who has had his share of insomnia, I’ve had time to give this topic plenty of thought.

1. Give your skin the tools it needs to repair and regenerate.
As I mentioned last time, sleep is when our bodies do all of their “re-“ activities (pair, generate, juvenate, build, store –all the good stuff). Make sure they have the tools needed to get the job done. It is best to take at least two doses of supplements a day to make sure you are getting a constant supply. Take one dose before bed, and make sure you include calcium, and antioxidants (pomegranate extract is an excellent one).

2. Water, Water, Water!
Your skin repairs itself at night, and it needs water to do this effectively. After you apply the treatment appropriate for your particular skin concern before bed, make sure you use a good moisturizer. This will help draw water from the environment and lock in your body’s own water to prevent loss through the skin (known as trans-epidermal water loss or TEWL). Plus, there are few things as pleasant as waking up with dewy soft skin.
If you live in a very dry climate, you may want to consider sleeping with a humidifier on, or leaving a pot of water on the radiator (for that more visually retro effect). This will also keep the membranes in your throat and nose moist to prevent illness.

3. Defy gravity whenever possible.
The main reason we all eventually start sagging (and I’m not just talking about our faces), is gravity. The longer we spend on this planet with gravity pulling down on our skin, the less it will be able to resist this force. During most of our waking hours, our skin is being pulled to the floor. The least we can do is pull it in a more promising direction when possible. If you sleep on your back every night, 33% of the time your skin will be pulled in the direction a face-lift attempts to emulate.

4. We all need a little help now and again.
Last time I mentioned two of our brains’ most important chemicals involved in sleep – the hormone melatonin, and the neurotransmitter GABA. As we get older we produce less and less of these natural relaxing agents. If you need some help, try boosting your brain’s own with melatonin and/or GABA supplements. They are very safe and most people find them highly effective.

30 Is the New 20

By the time you read this post, I will have crossed over from the youthful, energetic decade of my 20s into the sluggish, middle-aged decade of my 30s. They say that 30 is the new 20. But, I can tell you that long ago my metabolism decided to take a nap, my skin decided that it had been pretty long enough and broke out, and I started caring more about how much I was putting away in savings than how many pairs of cute shoes I had.

What is it about a landmark birthday that makes you reevaluate your life, your goals and your health? I don’t know the answer to that question. But, I do know that in each of my landmark birthdays I have had a new revelation—this one is no different. As I approach 30, it’s time to get my life and my health in gear. If I want to be around for another 60 years (thank god longevity runs in my family), I need to look & feel good about myself. So here are some goals I set out for myself in this upcoming decade:

• Put 10% of my income in savings (I may have to start with 2% and work up to 10%, but you see where I’m going with this)
• Practice yoga averaging at least once a week (good for the body & soul)
• Get more sleep (see Jeff’s post on 9/12)
• Compete in a mini-triathlon (thanks for the inspiration J.Lo.)
• Eat more nutritiously and take my supplements (one of Dr. Murad’s core philosophies)

I distinctly remember the day when I turned 10. My dad told me, “You will never be in single digits again.” Hopefully, if I complete these goals and continue to live a healthy lifestyle, I can make it all the way to triple digits!

Hiking with Dr. Murad

Friday afternoons. Ahh. Even better—sunny SUMMER Friday afternoons. Just this simple string of words is enough to invoke happy thoughts of relaxation and laughter. Maybe you drifted off for a split second to dream about relaxing by the beach in the summer sun or enjoying some quality time with friends. But maybe, just maybe you found yourself back in the office posted up behind your desk manipulating a spreadsheet the size of an elephant. Ok, while the latter is probably not your first choice, for many of us it most definitely is the more probable scenario. That’s why Dr. Murad has given all Murad employees the opportunity to join him in an exercise that doesn’t involve numbers or documents. And it is just that…exercise.

One of the core Murad philosophies is that to be truly happy and healthy, you need to take care of yourself emotionally as well as physically by pursuing activities you enjoy. And with that, Dr. Murad, an experienced hiker, has invited all Murad employees to join him in one of his passions. Resembling more of a grown up version of your grade school field trip than a board meeting, each Friday a group of Murad employees would gather to enjoy the company of one another while pushing themselves both physically and mentally—especially when chasing Dr. Murad, an avid hiker, around the hilltops of the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains.

The three hour excursions ranged from moderate paced groups to more intense workouts canvassing the rocky terrain—all with Doctor leading the way. Standing beside your coworkers while looking out over the Pacific, you can’t help but feel that you have really gotten ‘away’ without having to get away at all. The feelings of accomplishment and rejuvenation were enough to carry you through the weekend feeling refreshed…because, of course, that spreadsheet will always be there on Monday.