We’re all guilty of skimping on sleep, whether it’s pulling an all-nighter before a big day at work or staying out ’til the wee hours of the morning. No matter the reason for it, one thing’s certain: The next day is not going to be fun. Sure, we can easily fake a good night’s sleep with some genius makeup tricks, but not getting enough shuteye can do more damage than just leaving us with dark under eye circles.
To find out what really happens to our skin when we don’t get in a full eight hours, we talked to Hal Alpert, M.D., a sleep specialist in New York City. Below, he expains what’s going on with sleep deprivation, plus what to do to get a full night’s rest.
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The bottom line: Getting your beauty rest is well worth it! At the very least, we should try to get six hours of sleep per night, says Alpert. So slip on your eye masks and slide under the covers a little sooner (and stay there a little longer!) to keep your skin healthy, youthful and gorgeous.
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