I tried Clean Sleeping for a week and here's what happened
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Unless you've been living under a rock, I am sure you are well aware that wellness and beauty goddess Gwyneth Paltrow has released a new beauty line with the same name as her website, Goop.
She has also released a new book called 'Clean Beauty' where she discusses the new phenomenon of clean sleeping.
Now, I'm not really one to jump on the bandwagon with these wellness kicks - but this one involved my favourite thing, which is sleep. According to Gwyneth, sleep is just as important as diet for great skin and body function.
She also credits clean sleeping as the key to ageing gracefully, staying slim, and even having great hair...
I decided to test GP's theory and see for myself the benefits of clean sleeping.
How To Clean Sleep
In her book, Ms Paltrow claims that seven-eight hours are good for clean sleeping and ideally even ten.
Ten hours?! I'm a student Gywn, I don't think I can afford ten hours - so I'll aim for eight.
She also recommends a copper-infused pillow...
After gawking at the price of one of those things (£50 - student no-no) I decided to just opt for a cotton one I had already.
In order to track this miraculous eight-hour sleep, I also used an App called 'Sleep Cycle', which you turn on before you sleep every night to track how long you're sleeping.
I also had to avoid alcohol for the week, and try to switch my phone off at the end of the day.
My skin was relatively clear when I began my journey, with a bit of redness and no zits.
Day 1: 8 hours, 15 minutes sleep
Okay, I had a long day at university but it was time for bed. There was no phone for an hour except to use my HeadSpace Meditation App (to relax!) for ten minutes. I woke up feeling quite good and refreshed, ready for a productive day.
My Skin: Blotchy but quite clear.
Day 2: 6 hours, 10 minutes sleep
Not my best night's sleep. I blame the excitement of the day and a spiral of YouTube videos. I also think I’m coming down with something - this would never happen to GP. Although I tried a foot massage with foot cream and soon nodded off.
My Skin: I have two spots this morning. They've appeared like painful craters on my face. Not happy.
Day 3: 9 hours, 5 minutes sleep
If there's one thing you should know about me, it is that I can sleeeeeep! Nine hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep has left me feeling very groggy and disorientated. Compared to how I felt on day one, I'm not actually feeling my best.
My Skin: The spots are now huge and red. The rest of my face just looks tired. I may squeeze the spots...
Day 4: 8 hours sleep
I made a conscious effort today to go to bed at 10pm. I switched off my phone, meditated and relaxed. I had an excellent sleep and although I am definitely sick, I feel well rested.
My Skin: I treated the spots and I am waiting for them to bugger off. My skin is looking a little brighter though, and the eye bags are better!
Day 5: 7 hours, 45 minutes sleep
After an extremely stressful day I drove four hours down to my home town. Although I was exhausted when I got home, I tried to stay awake until 10pm in order to give myself a constant bedtime. Again, I attempted to get into bed early and look away from my phone. My body was tired so I think that helped me sleep. Zzzzzz.
My Skin: The spots are shrinking and my skin does feel a lot better.- Article continues below...
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My Verdict on Clean Sleeping
Clean Sleeping, in all it's glory, is HARD.
I mean, it's great sleeping for ten hours and avoiding all responsibility, but I strongly believe the best nights’ sleep I had was the seven-eight hour nights. I couldn't even make it to ten hours, my body just kept saying 'nope'.
However I will definitely continue meditating before sleep and trying to keep to a bedtime, as I feel like my body responded really well to those behaviours. I also liked the foot massage too - definitely keeping that in my night time routine.
From a beauty perspective, I really do believe that good quality sleeping can help your skin and hair, but ten hours is a bit excessive. Although the bags under my eyes are less now, I still have a few spots and redness to deal with. Of course the spots could be down to a number of things so clean sleeping isn't necessarily to blame, but I also didn't feel awake on most of my days which led to my skin looking dull and congested.
I recommend exercising, eating well and drinking lots of water as well as all of this sleeping to ensure your skin stays hydrated and well looked after.