Ladies who follow me on twitter might recall the day last week when I mentioned that I’d pulled a 30 hour day with no sleep. It was actually a 33 hour day, or thereabouts. I was up at 6.45am Thursday and did not get any sleep till 3pm Friday. It was work related, unintentional and unplanned and it was the culmination of a week of high stress and little sleep and rest.
I’m not about to ask for sympathy here – its work after all and a work stunt I’ve pulled before in my not so distant youth but its just reaffirmed to me just how much our bodies need rest and proper sleep to properly function and for our skin to look good. Some of us may be lucky in that you don’t have to undergo these sorts of stresses on your body, but I do have some tips you can try to alleviate the stress. I will also tell you what happened to my skin during the last week as a result of the stress and lack of sleep and rest.
Stress and Lack of sleep and rest can cause breakouts
This is something many of us know, but how many of us realize when its happening? I had a very stressful period from Tuesday-Friday. Starting from Tuesday itself, I noticed bumps appearing on my cheek, forehead and chin. Some were particularly painful. These bumps soon turned angry and red and showed no signs of receeding despite anything I did to them. In fact, my itchy fingers popped one and it got inflamed and wouldn’t go down!
When I managed to get some rest from Friday onwards, these bumps and spots disappeared quite quickly. The inflamed spot I popped just disappeared like nothing happened! This definitely confirmed the theory that stress and lack of rest can contribute significantly to breakouts. If you are having sudden inexplicable breakouts, take a look at your lifestyle and work. Are you undergoing a stressful period in your life or at work? Are you getting enough sleep?
Eye bags and dark eye circles are more pronounced with lack of rest
I have to thank the Gods for concealer during the last week! I had some serious concealing to do for the dark eye circles and eye bags that appeared. Lack of sleep and rest causes dark eye circles and bags to form and I’m not naturally prone to having them as a serious concern.
After a long rest and sleep, I woke up to relatively brighter eyes and the dark eye circles and eye bags were all but gone. If you notice a sudden appearance of eye bags or dark eye circles and you haven’t been having sufficient sleep and rest, this might be why.
Stress and lack of rest can cause pigmentation to look more prominent
If you don’t have a pigmentation problem, you may not notice this. But if you do, as I do, this is a problem indeed! With increased stress levels and lack of sleep and rest, my pigmentation problem flared up. Freckles on my cheekbones were looking much more prominent and darker, and here’s the clincher. It does not go away with sleep!
I’ve resorted to going back to my whitening products to deal with this problem. Granted, I don’t expect them to go away (it can’t with just products alone) but at least I can get them calmed down to a level that I find reasonable.
Again, if you suddenly notice your pigmentation problem getting worse, and the sun isn’t a problem for you, stress and lack of rest may be it.
Poor health and lowered immune system
When you try to pull a stunt like I did, all your body’s resources goes towards keeping you awake and alert for the time you need to be. It could be adrenaline keeping you going but everything else in your body too has to work overtime to keep you upright and mobile and thinking clearly. In this time, your immune system drops and bacteria that have laid dormant take this opportunity to wreak havoc on your body.
In my case, I woke up on Saturday morning with a fever and a sore throat. Neither showed any signs of abating although rest, staying hydrated and lots of honey over the long weekend is helping. I’m still fighting it.
When you’re younger (as I was 😛 ) you don’t feel it as much. I didn’t fall sick immediately after pulling a 30 hour day. A good long sleep and I was fine. With age creeping up on you, and body defenses lowered, your body takes a much longer time to heal from these sorts of abuses.
Poor skin and health were the immediate things I noticed after this particularly stressful period I went through. And if I were to have to do it again (I hope never!) there are a few things I’d have done and taken note of:-
- Keeping hydrated with water. When stressed it is easy to forget to drink enough water and liquids. You will find you need to go to the toilet more, but our bodies need the water to keep going. So staying hydrated with water or isotonic drinks may help. Keeping hydrated will also prevent our skins from drying out. This applies during and after this stressful period.
- Herbal drinks may help. If you subscribe to the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, “heat” and “cool” as I do, then drinking a cooling herbal drink may help cool down your body so you don’t fall sick. When your body undergoes high stress with little rest, it gets “heaty” so a “cooling” drink dampens the fires. Something simple like a barley water drink or young coconut helps. Probably applicable only in Asia though 😛
- Vitamin C and Vitamins to boost immunity. If you know you will be going through a stressful period, up your doseage of Vitamin C and vitamins. Your body’s immunity will be lowered and you need all the help you can get to ensure that the nasty bacteria doesn’t have a field day. As skin breakouts can also be attributed to bacteria, this might also help keep spots away.
- Keep skin hydrated and spot treatment handy. If you can work at home, slap on a hydrating face mask while you work. It will help keep your skin hydrated and cooled down which can prevent spots from appearing or getting inflamed. Having spot treatment handy is also useful because if you can’t fight it, you could at least treat it 😛 I’m now back to my hydration and spot treatment regime.
- Try to take a break after that. I realise it may not always be possible but after a very stressful period, it would be good to take a few days off. You don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. You just have to stay home and rest and allow your body time to recover. Also, try to take things easy fir a while as i will be. Its easy to draw on reserves you never knew you had but replenishing those reserves take more time than you can imagine. I was lucky I had a long weekend thereafter to catch up on rest and sleep but if I did not, I would have taken time off because ultimately, health is much more important than wealth! 😉
Have you ever pulled all nighters for whatever reasons? Did you experience the same sort of skin and health stresses I did when faced with lack of sleep and rest e.g when working late nights? Do you have tips on how to counter it? Do share! 🙂
Paris B
I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. I attribute it to stress because I’d be jolted wide awake at 3am pondering on a problem we’re facing at work. It’s unhealthy, I know and I blame my perfectionist and workaholic streak.
I noticed that my skin is a lot duller with the lack of rest. I don’t have any pigmentation (yet!) so I can’t comment but the spots are definitely popping up! I usually try and recover the day after with a bath and a sheet mask while I’m in the bath.
To recover, I’d recommend a lavender-everything treatment 😛 Bath, bath oils, body oils, skin care, oils on burner to relax and calm yourself down and slowly tune the world out and drift off into oblivion.
Hope you got something fun and pretty for yourself to make up for the lack of sleep and insane hours. Get well soon!
3am is the witching hour I swear. When I get jolted awake at night, its usually around then too! I find that some lavender drops on the pillow or on a piece of tissue next to me helps me get through the night. And lavender most certainly helps with the whole relaxing exercise. I need a bathtub. I hope to have one soon! 😀
The longest I’ve been up is up to 2 AM in the morning, and waking up at 5.45 AM the next day. At least I still can er, take it. heehee
As a student I pulled stunts like this all the time especially nearing exams. I was never the worse for wear and besides it was “expected” LOL!
Oh Paris, this is such an apt post for me now! I’ve been surviving on 3 hour naps for the past 2 weeks due to assignments, and I’m another living proof of your post. I got everything you mentioned – horrid breakouts (huge, inflamed acne), dark circles and eye bags (my speedy 25s just got upgraded to the 35! :P) and yes, my pigmentation did seemed a little darker! :'(
I usually treat myself to a shopping spree and spa session once academic hell has ended for me! Need to have something to look forward to to keep my sanity in check you know! Haha! 😀
Don’t you hate it when your Speedys upgrade themselves? Ouch! Sending you good vibes for your assignments and yes, once you’re done, go get yourself pampered at a spa! I tried too but they were fully booked 🙁 I’m not sure I’d have gotten up after the massage though and they might think I’d died LOL!
As an engineer, all these happen quiet frequently…
My dark circle never disappear for years!!! =(
Sorry to hear that Stephy! Dark circles are hard to get rid of, but I hope you find ways to relax in between those crazy periods 🙂
While I don’t have to pull all-nighters, I recognize a lot of the same symptoms (except the pigmentation problem) popping up whenever I do not get sufficient rest and am highly stressed. 🙁
Wish there is a job that pays well without a high workload and stress levels. 😛
Hmm… if there’s a job out there like that I’d like it too please! 😀 I know some people that get serious allergy bouts or eczema when a highly stressed period hits. I’m just glad that’s not a problem for me 🙂
I am constantly having not enough sleep all the time..If I have event to organised at night and had to get back at 1 am and go to work after that a lot of pimples will appear and my god the eye bag is so black in colour..most of the time I would sleep a little bit ealier after that and everything else will slowly go down again…..when you don’t have enought sleep it bothers a lot of things in your life…especially work related because you can’t commit on giving the best..that is why for me…7 hours of sleeping is important..hahahaha
I need a minimum of 8 hours to function properly! LOL Otherwise I’m just a zombie getting through the day and you’re right. If we don’t get enough rest, we can’t give our best and that would defeat everything we work for!
This is something all new mothers can attest to. In fact, we have to suffer this every night until the baby can sleep through the night. Some takes a few months, others take a year to two. For me, it’s been a few years because I have 2 babies in 3 years. Whitening and hydrating products help but in the end it’s reducing the stress level (since there’s less of a chance to increase rest!). I find that when I’m particularly stressed, my skin gets drier and products just don’t seem to absorb as well. I’d buy hydrating sheet masks and soak my face every night before sleep for 5 nights. I find it does wonders!
I can imagine mothers will have a much harder time because they can’t just say ok, this stressful period is over and now I can rest 🙂 Still at least its more satisfying than a work related all nighter
I’ve pulled all-nighters quite a number of times back when I was still a student, and I find that it’s getting harder and harder to do as I grow (Old auntie at 23 fml T.T). Personally, if I can pin the cause on something I won’t get so cranky, but if it’s just my body NOT wanting to sleep, fuyoh me no like!
Old at 23? You have a loooong way to go girlie 😛
Because of Mr. AMW’s weird work schedule, I tend to wait for him til he arrives around 1am then we’ll end up chatting and sharing how our days went so I end up sleeping really late! 🙁 I’m usually tired and sleepy in the morning and the worst part, I have a full day ahead of work!
Ahhhh skin goes crazy once in awhile and allergic reactions occur too! Thanks for the wonderful tips!
I don’t know how to manage Nikki! The good thing perhaps is that you can take quick cat naps in the day which can help your body relax and prevent skin flare ups 🙂
i used to sleep at 6am when i was in the uni…..but now i can barely stay awake past 12! and sleeping anytime later than that i get really grumpy and groggy the next day, one of the things i observe on myself is – pale lips due to little sleep.
I generally look pale if I don’t have enough sleep. In fact, I look just like a zombie – pale skin and lips and sunken dark ringed eyes. No need for Halloween makeup.
I realized that I can never get past 10pm without yawning profusely! Am old *yikes* already and I always crave for more sleep 😀
On normal days, I’m already in bed by 10.30pm! 😀 Even if I read till late, its not as bad as having to work and have the brain going at 100mph
Ahh… I’ve been through >24 hours without sleep but it was probably from things that are not of high importance coupled with some that are (college student stints).
Those are very helpful tips indeed! The skin does show all sorts of signs when stress or lack of sleep occurs. Mine usually gets very dehydrated looking, breakouts and rashes!
College/Uni doesn’t count. You aren’t expected to sleep early LOL! 😀 My skin, coupled with breakouts, get flaky too! Its such a weird combination.
I am a chronic insomniac and my skin looks absolute shite each time it hits. The longest I have gone without sleep was 3 days and I looked like the walking dead. Regular exercise helps but I once went for a run and still couldn’t sleep after.
I usually drink lots of water, chamomile tea and snow fungus soup to help cool the liver. Using hydrating masks while sleeping (once I am able to, that is) is also a must for about 2 to 3 days.
I guess I’m lucky to not have an insomnia problem unless there’s something really weird going on in my life at that point. Sometimes like you, exercise doesn’t help either. Body is tired but brain isn’t so I can’t sleep. I have found that a bit of alcohol helps me because I don’t drink a lot normally so very little is enough to knock me out, but that’s seriously dehydrating for the body too 😛
Weeeell, I used to drink vodka or whiskey neat whenever I couldn’t really sleep. Stopped after a while because it usually takes over 5 shots to knock me out (have a high alcohol tolerance) and the shot count got higher as my tolerance built up.
Ouch ok that’s not a nightcap anymore 😛
I experienced the same for work related, a project for about 1 mth plus.. Had continuous late night meetings, early delivery next morning, urgent issues.. you name it. It was insane. Even skipped bfast/lunch/dinner sometimes. Didn’t know condition of skin cuz no time to look into the mirror. But everyone who met me will said that I shrinked, like from size S to XXS. I didn’t want to go down that road again. I hope u too. Take care.
For tips, I kept a face mist spray handy. Spritz few times to wake myself up and allow dehydrated skin to refresh.
Thank you SC! If there’s one thing about me, I need my food! LOL But yes I’ve lost a lot of weight through stress before and I don’t want to go down there again. Its not healthy because you won’t look good anyway. Thanks for the face mist tip. I didn’t think about that! 😀
What? Oh no, that really isn’t good for you… I think the longest I’ve gone without sleep is about… 26 hours or so? I’ve been pretty stressed out with college applications lately. It probably doesn’t seem that stressful for people in more “real-world” situations, but IDK, it seems pretty yuck to me. 🙁
I don’t notice myself break out more – my skin, if anything, becomes more dry. I don’t get really large under eye circles either, but I get really annoyed at everyone when I don’t sleep enough.
Hey, college applications are a big thing! “Real World” is whatever you are experiencing at the time but I hope you sort everything out soon and apply for a college and course you’d enjoy and excel in 🙂 Short temper and crankiness is most definitely a side effect of lack of sleep. I’m less cranky after many hours especially if I”ve been working as I did. I tend to go past crankiness into a zone that is just like being in a bubble, waiting for the time I can hit the sack!
this is going to sound all too familiar until the end of December… >.< all I can hope is to squeeze in some time to grab forty winks here and there when I can!
Gosh good luck to you! Thankfully I don’t have long periods of crap like this 😛
Still can’t believe you were working for 30 straight hours! That’s insane. Glad it’s all over now!
If I lack sleep these days, it’s due to drinking Oolong tea too late into the day, causing insomnia. I definitely notice dehydrated skin the next day, and get dark circles, which I’ve never, ever experienced before! It could be age… 🙁 I thought I’d never need eye cream since I’ve never noticed them do anything, but I guess it’s time to invest in a good one. *sniff*
Yes it was seriously insane especially because I wasn’t expecting it, until I saw the clock creep towards 4am and then 6am before I could finally say I was done 😛 But yes, over now, whew! I don’t drink tea or coffee after 2pm or I won’t be able to sleep! I have read that pu-er tea is better because it doesn’t cause the insomnia problem, but I try not to take the risk 😉
Hi Paris, I can totally understand what you have been gone through cause my job requires me to work like that 4-5 times a month. Apart from what you have mentioned, there are few more e.g oily scalp causing hair fall, dry flaky skin, flare up of ezcema, more visible pores etc. *sigh*
Hi Junni! That might explain all the hair I find everywhere *sigh* Not sure if it’ll happen but I hope your job eases up at some point – it usually does 😉
I just couldn’t do that – but have done, due to jet lag! It really shows in your face – I look horrid for days – dry, puffy face, dark eye bags, you name it!!
Jet lag is a bummer! I don’t travel for work, thank goodness but if I travel cross time zones, I try to settle into the time zone as quickly as I possibly can. Rarely a problem, thank goodness! But when on holidays, it can really spoil photos 😛
I have to do extra shifts at work on a regular basis – work regular shift, on for night, work regular shift etc. I completely understand. It really does play havoc with my skin and it’s really difficult to eat healthily!
Oh yes! Trying to eat on top of juggling a crazy work schedule is… crazy! So not only do we have to contend with crappy skin, we have to contend with tummy upsets or gastic problems and unhealthy food. Sigh… the things we working ladies put ourselves through eh? 😉