Beauty Sleep Is Not Just Something We Read About In Fairy Tales

beauty-sleep

by Danielle Fowler |
Published on

A new study has revealed that beauty sleep is not a myth but in fact, very much a real thing.

Merely a couple of bad night’s sleep can make a person look ‘significantly’ more unattractive while dark circles will prevent others from wanting to socialise with you, reports the BBC.

The eye-opening study was conducted by the Karolinska Institute, which asked 25 university students to take part. Participants were asked to get a good night’s sleep for two consecutive nights and then a week later, they were required to only give themselves four hours sleep for two nights in a row.

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The researchers then took photographs of the participants without make-up after both sessions. These images were presented to 122 strangers living in Stockholm, who were asked to rate the photographs based on health, attractiveness and trustworthiness. They were then required to answer the question, 'How much would you like to socialise with this person in the picture?'

The results revealed that the strangers perceived those who lacked sleep as less healthy and less attractive. The data also demonstrated that they were also less willing to socialise with those who had not slept well.

Psychology expert at the University of Liverpool and member of the British Psychological Association, Dr Gayle Brewer, said: "Judgement of attractiveness is often unconscious, but we all do it, and we are able to pick up on even small cues like whether someone looks tired or unhealthy.

"We want our partners to be attractive and energetic,” he added.

So you may want to bear this information in mind when you're next mindlessly scrolling through social media until the early hours of the morning...

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