YOU CAN’T GET AWAY FROM THE TIDE OF EVIDENCE THAT SLEEP IMPROVES YOUR LIFE
Having existed on five hours a night during his presidency, Bill Clinton has said he’s increased his sleep after his heart problems, Gigi Hadid admits she’ll often skip fashion week parties to catch up on sleep and Beyoncé recently said, ‘Having peace, happiness and healthiness is my definition of beauty. And you can’t have any of that without sleep.’
Anna Kaiser (supermodel Karlie Kloss’s personal trainer) recently revealed she tells her clients to choose sleep over exercise, such is its restorative power. ‘I don’t think anyone understands how important it is,’ says Anna. ‘If you have a choice where you’ve only been sleeping five or six hours and can sleep an extra hour or work out, sleep an extra hour. Otherwise you’re running your body down, which will affect your energy and hold on to excess water and weight. It will make you hungrier. You really need seven to eight hours. Working out harder or better or eating less isn’t the answer – it’s about getting enough sleep.’
‘The cult of sleeplessness is a hangover from the ’80s,’ says Dr Neil Stanley, sleep expert and former chairman of the British Sleep Society. ‘That was a time when rumours swirled that Margaret Thatcher slept for four hours a night and the long working hours culture was popular. Since then there’s been this bizarre idea that the way to get ahead is to work all the hours you can. But sleep is the third part of the wellness triangle, alongside eating well and exercise.’
Trainer Lee Mullins, who works with Rosie Huntington-whiteley and Cressida Bonas, agrees. ‘If you’re not getting eight hours of good quality sleep a night, eating well and exercising won’t make a difference,’ he told Grazia. ‘Lack of sleep can increase insulin resistance by 20%, which means your body’s ability to handle carbs and sugar diminishes and you’re more likely to gain weight.
‘Willpower also declines with tiredness, so you’re less likely to exercise and more likely to seek out fake energy – caffeine and sugar. Getting eight hours, on the other hand, fires up your metabolism, aids recovery, reduces injury risk, restores muscle and hormonal balance, cleanses your brains of toxins and boosts energy and alertness. So I tell clients there’s a hierarchy of their spare time and enough sleep is at the top, because not getting enough is fattening and ageing.’
The grey tinge to our skin we notice after a bad night’s sleep isn’t in our imagination. As Gwyneth Paltrow once said in an interview, ‘For me, sleep is a major thing. I don’t always get it and when I don’t, I look like I’ve been hit by a truck.’
‘Beauty sleep is no myth,’ agrees Dr Jean-louis Sebagh, the French cosmetic doctor who works with Cindy Crawford. ‘The skin has its own 24-hour rhythm and research shows after 11.30pm, the processes of repair and rejuvenation are at their most active. This continues overnight, as our skin cells clean themselves, nutrients are delivered and vital “anti-ageing” activities such as cellular repair and new collagen production take place. So getting a good night’s sleep is an essential part of an ageing-maintenance strategy.’
‘You just can’t get away from the tide of evidence that getting more sleep improves every single aspect of your health and life,’ says Dr Stanley. He publishes daily sleep tips on his Twitter feed (@drneilstanley), but says there are only three things you need for good sleep: ‘A dark, quiet, cool and comfortable bedroom, a relaxed body and a quiet mind, which involves doing something you find relaxing for 45 minutes before bed.
‘Studies show people who don’t sleep enough are more likely to age quickly, suffer obesity, heart disease, depression and strokes. We know sleepy people kill more people on the road than drunk ones and, on the extreme end of the scale, shift work can increase breast cancer risk.’
Whereas, according to Dr Stanley, people who manage eight hours a night are healthier, with better memories, motivation, concentration, leadership, business and decision making skills, plus they have better people skills and less conflict with colleagues and loved ones. ‘If you want to get ahead in life, get a good night’s sleep,’ he says.
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