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Photos reveal how different someone looks after a good night's sleep (left) compared to staying up for 31-hours straight.
Everyone knows that getting too little sleep makes you feel terrible, but new research suggests that cutting back on Zzzs actually makes you look noticeably worse as well.
Turns out, there’s a reason they call it beauty sleep.
That’s the bottom line of a Swedish study that finds that people are perceived as less attractive -- as well as less healthy and more tired -- when they’re sleep-deprived than when they’re well-rested.
And it should be a wake-up call to the 1 in 5 Americans who routinely get less than six hours of sleep a night, said John Axelsson, the researcher who led the study conducted at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.
“A good night’s sleep does not only improve your physiological health, it will also make you look healthier and more attractive, which in turn improves the chance of better treatments in a wide range of social situations,” said Axelsson, an associate professor in the clinical neuroscience department. His work was published online this week in the British Medical Journal.
Axelsson and his colleagues in Sweden and the Netherlands decided to test the notion that lack of sleep affects your looks -- in addition to your brain function, immune system, reaction time and vulnerability to a host of ills, including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
So they recruited 23 healthy adults and took photos of them after a good night’s sleep and after they were forced to stay up for 31 hours straight. Then they asked 65 ordinary people to rate each photo according to how attractive, healthy and tired the subjects looked.
The results? The same people were perceived as 4 percent less attractive, 6 percent less healthy and 19 percent more tired when they were sleep deprived than when they were rested.
That’s not surprising to Dr. David E. Anderson of the Rocky Mountain Sleep Disorders Center in Great Falls, Mont. The physical effects of too little sleep can’t help but show up in your face, he said. It may not last after only a few missed snoozes, but long-term sleep deprivation can affect health -- and looks -- profoundly.
For everyone who believes that sleep deprivation doesn’t show, the new research proves otherwise, Axelsson said.
“We propose that sleep is a cheap and effective beauty treatment, both acutely and in the long-term,” he said. “Sleep should be seen as the body’s natural beauty treatment and a clear alternative or complement to other beauty treatments.”
How many hours of shut-eye do you get a night? Tell us about it in the comments.
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WOW I sure hope they didn't spend money "discovering" these astounding results. I mean "tired people look tired", "Looking tired also looks unhealthy", "unhealthy looking people are less desireable in social situations". My god man whats next ... drunk drivers are unsafe drivers, smoking is not a healthy activity, music is good for the sole.
I didn't know fish had ears :)
Lets have a study!
I suppose it's not groundbreaking, but it doesn't sound like they spent a billion dollars researching this either. In science, every assumption must be proven through previous research, empirical data, mathematics, statistically sound modeling, etc. Sometimes what we think is obvious is actually disproven (e.g. old wives tales). Anyways, I get about 7 hours of sleep a night. If left on my own though, I'll go 8.5-9 hours before waking up naturally. I rarely do it, but I am most productive when I go to sleep early and wake up early (say 11PM-7:30AM), even if I am not working.
All the beauty sleep in the world can't fix my ugly mug.
Who didnt know this?
Uh, I think you mean "soul" - :"sole" is the bottom of a shoe, which folks may more closely resemble without adequate sleep. Nice try!
jreinier
Fish CAN hear, and many make sounds. Any fisherman will confirm this. They just don't have external ear structures because water conducts sound so well they aren't needed.
These photos are a terrible barometer --- the person looks exactly the same in each one except for their expression.
Agreed. Thank God this wasn't a U.S. study....
The guys eyes are a little wider on the left photo hmmm wonder why though?
I don't think he looks the same at all; he's def better looking in the pic where he got more sleep; I've been told many times I look 10 years younger than I am; I generally get 8 hours during the week(I work full-time) and 10-12hours on weekends. When i can't get that much sleep I def look older not just tired.
Look closely. He's paler and puffier on the right, which, if you don't like his eyes much, could improve them in your opinion. However, most of us would not choose to look paler or puffier, especially puffier under the eyes. He's young yet. As he gets older the differences will be more dramatic, trust me on this one. That's why very young models can smoke, take drugs and stay out all night and still look good the next day (with extra makeup of course). Older models, even by just a couple of years, can't pull that off.
Hey MSNBC, how desperate are you to put things on your site? People look better when they're rested than they do when they've been up all night? Really? Now who would have thought that. That is truly amazing. And you MSNBC, are truly pathetic.
Good point. The photos don't show any difference at all!
I definitely notice a difference in the photos. I don't know what you all are complaining about, but as someone who tends to burn the candle at both ends, I welcome reminders such as this article, that I need to get more sleep.
@qcdude3 & charleyb - what do you care if Sweden spent some money on this research? The fact that they did this research, and that MSNBC is reporting it, might just encourage some people out there to get a little more sleep in the coming nights, and that can only have a positive impact on society. Very short-sighted of you both.
Facial appearance improves? Maybe.
Other reasons for extending your sack time may include:
Physical recovery from the previous day's workout, mood, mental stability, conversational ability, and
resistance to "social temptations" (this is the Holiday Party Season). We make better decisions and have
more fun, if we look better too we might have a LOT more fun!
I agree, they look awful. I was on chemo off and on for 10 years. I am now 100% cured, but people I see now 2 months after treatment don't even recognize me. It's sleep man, I can tell everyone that. It should be common sense, but for something to be proven it has to go through the scientific method. You know the one we all studied in highschool or college. They are just proving a theory, that way it can become a fact. Just because we already know it doesn't mean it is proven.
Wait, so I'll look better without bags under my eyes? This is ground-breaking information. Thank you Sweden!
Funny, once in a while I read the comments. 1st, who cares what others think? 2nd: I keep reading the same comments on different studies. Do you people have jobs, or do you spend your day commenting on websites? I hope your lives have more meaning than doing this all day!
or shave occasionally.
Zing!
Am I the only one that thinks he looks better sleep deprived? Maybe it's just the picture but his face looks thinner and his eyes look more alluring!
This made me laugh because I had the SAME thought!
Ditto! Maybe because he looks foolish in the picture on the left, and more serious in the one on the right.
AGREED! He def looks better in the photo on the right!
I totally agree with you on that one!
Sleep, when you can get some, is a welcome elixir, however stress, worries and health issues conspire against getting a good one.
Better question is, how do those of us who have accumulated hours-days-weeks of deprivation catch up? Can it even be done? I'd hate to think I have to keep this "unhealthy look" and grow old....
Strange, to me he looks better on the left, as he has those "come hither" bedroom eyes. Other than that, he looks exactly the same to me!
Where are the photos found? I only see pictures of one guy.
That guy in the picture would look 100 percent better if he'd just shave and get a decent haircut.
"Want to look hotter? Hit the sack."
"Want to get mpre time in the sack? Look hotter."
...and thus the vicious circle continues...
LOL
Next study on the list: People feel full after they eat!
He looks fatter on the left.
I agree, and am proof. Also believe that new mothers need to get their sleep and they don't. Families need to chip in more with a newborn. In past, the mother was straddled with a newborn while her body was on the mend. What a baby does to a body, depleting minerals, etc.. So if you really want to say I love you to your wife, let her sleep a bit while daddies and grandmas and grandpas and aunties and uncles get bond with their new family member.
I get about 10 hours of sleep per night:)
It didn't use to be this way, but since quitting my job, i sleep like a baby. NO, I did not have a sleep disorder that they thought I had had for the past 10 years....I had a STRESS disorder from my line of work!
I had read somewhere in the past couple of years that people need more than 8 hours per night, but most don't get it. I can tell you after sleeping 10 hours a night now for the past 3 years, I feel totally relaxed and stress free during the day.
The guy in the photo just looks rather weird in general. Not sure from the writing even which one is the sleep deprived. I do know the lighting in both pictures is quite different.
It must be nice to have so little substance in one's life that sleeping for over 8 hours a day has no effect on one's schedule.
I find it hard to make TIME for any more than 6 hours of sleep.
Though, I actually feel groggy if I get 8 hours (or sometimes a little more).
Also--studies have shown that routinely getting over 8 hours of sleep a night has similar negative effects on later life as routinely getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night. This came from another article I read on MSN.
Ten hours is too much unless recovering from major health issues. I agree with Soulmaster that six hours is healthier. Four to six hours is still within a healthy range, but extended stress and less than two is so hard on the body.
May be cameraman didn't sleep well while taking the first picture!!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz