The Effects of Sleep on
Perception of Beauty
Apparently,
beauty sleep i
a real thing.
A
ccording to recent research by The Karolinska
Institute and published in the Royal Society
Open Science journal, a couple of sleepless
nights is enough to make a person significantly
less attractive.
The researchers asked 25 university students, some male and
some female, to be the guinea pigs in a sleep experiment. The
volunteers were given a kit that would measure their nighttime
movements. They were asked to get a good night’s sleep for two
consecutive nights. A week later, they were asked to restrict
themselves to only four hours of sleep per night for two nights
in a row. The researchers took makeup free photos of the volun-
teers after both the good and the bad sleep sessions.
Next, they asked 122 strangers—women and men living in
Stockholm—to have a look at the photos and rate them on
attractiveness, health, sleepiness and trustworthiness, as well
as asking them: “How much would you like to socialize with
this person in the picture?”
The strangers could affectively tell if the person in the photo
was tired, and, if they were sleepy, their attractiveness score
suffered. The strangers also said they would be less willing to
socialize with the tired students, who they also perceived to be
less healthy.
The Karolinska Institute researchers says this makes sense in
evolutionary terms. “An unhealthy-looking face, whether due to
sleep deprivation or otherwise, might activate disease-avoiding
mechanisms in others,” says Dr. Tina Sundelin, lead researcher
in the study. “I don’t want to worry people or make them lose
sleep over these findings though. Most people can cope just
fine if they miss out on a bit of sleep now and again.”
As spa professionals, be sure to discuss sleep as an
important piece of the client’s beauty and wellness regimen.
Creating spa treatments that specifically address sleep issues
can help those who struggle with getting a good night’s sleep
address their beauty concerns. n
November 2017
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