Beauty sleep isn’t a myth – a sleep medicine expert explains how rest keeps your skin healthy and youthful

Have you ever woken up after a night of poor sleep, glanced in the mirror and thought, “I look tired?”

You’re not imagining it.

I am a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine. And though “beauty sleep” may sound like a fairy tale, a growing body of research confirms that sleep directly shapes how our skin looks, how youthful it appears and even how attractive others perceive us to be.

What happens during sleep

Sleep is not just down time. Your body moves through