Photo Courtesy of Stoonn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You know in old TV shows and movies when women would talk about needing their beauty rest? It’s always played off as a joke, or the woman being vain. Well let me tell you something: That sh*t is real. You need to rest to look and feel beautiful. I’m learning this life lesson right now. The reason I’m writing this is because I have been stressed and lacking rest lately, and It’s taking a toll. And it’s not a matter of not having the time to rest, it’s more like I can’t shut my brain off for five minutes to give myself a break. In turn I haven’t been sleeping well, my shoulders have been extremely tight, causing tension headaches AND yesterday I pulled my lower back (which is sometimes closely tied to excess of stress). Now I’m walking like Quasi Modo, I can barely stand long enough to blow dry my hair, and I can’t get to the gym. Not cute. I am not feeling beautiful.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, so if you are some sort of powerhouse woman who can work a few jobs and sleep three hours a night and feel pretty, then more power to you. As a matter of fact can I come hang out for a week and see what you’re doing that makes you so amazing? I’ll bring a notebook and everything.

For most of us lack of sleep, lack of rest or a surplus of stress (which always seem to go hand in hand, no?) will eventually catch up to us and make us feel less than 100%. And when I say less than 100% I mean inside and outside, because SO much beauty comes from within as well. Yeah, that’s totally cheesy, I know. I’m not a sappy person AT ALL, like I bet my family and close friends are reading that and wondering if someone who likes lifetime movies took over my blog. But as a very practical person, I can tell you first hand that I see more of the beauty in a person after I see how good they are to others or how vibrant their personality is. That much is a fact.

The toll this kind of stuff takes on us as a whole, is completely real. I mean you can read from from a medical perspective what lack of rest does to your looks, or the effects of stress on your mind and body. So that guy who rolled his eyes at the old timey actress needing her rest can basically bite me.

Unfortunately a lot of us have a hard time getting a good nights sleep, taking a ‘mental health day’, or even just clearing our mind for a little while (like yours truly) due to everyday circumstances. So here are a few tricks and ideas provided by my loving family and friends. To be honest I knew most of them already, but sometimes you need to be reminded to do these things for yourself. Luckily most of them don’t take a terribly long time so hopefully even the busiest among us can get some use out of them.

• Try Meditation - I swear this is not as complicated or as hippy-dippy as it sounds. All meditation is, is giving your brain a little time to clear out. A lot of folks think it means to clear your mind of all thought, which is super difficult, but it’s more like letting your mind run free for a while without hanging on to and controlling the path of your thoughts. You can do this by just finding a few minutes in a quiet place, closing your eyes and just letting your mind relax, but if you need some help not going down a path of “what if’s” and “omg I forgot to do’s” (again, just like me) there are relaxation and meditation apps that you can download which walk you through sessions of various lengths. So you can choose one that fits into the time you have, it can be 5 minutes or 40 depending on what you can squeeze in. The one I use is called “Simple Being” and it’s pretty dope. You can also choose background noises too, which help if you can’t find a very quiet place to unwind for a bit. I stopped using it for a while, but my mom reminded me that it helps, so I’m gonna start doing it daily again.
• Take a Short Walk - Obviously walking isn’t physical rest, but getting outside and getting even just a few minutes of sun can help the mind. Trust me, I know it’s super cold in some places right now. It’s super cold where I live too, but even ten minutes, bundled up in a coat will help clear your head, and a clear head leads to mental rest, which leads to better sleep, which leads less under-eye baggage, which leads to feeling pretty again. Not to mention you’ll be a happier and more pleasant person if you’re well rested.
• Take a Bath - This might sound hard to fit into your schedule, but if you have a little time you should try a nice relaxing bath. Every now and then I treat myself to a lush bath bomb, but those can get expensive. A cheaper alternative, that may have even more benefits is an Epsom salt bath. You can get a pretty big bag of salt’s in a nice relaxing scent like lavender for a very good price, and it helps relax your muscles too! Even just a 15 minute soak will help. I find that I can get to sleep much more easily after I had a nice warm soak. Oh, and you can try your little meditation app IN the bath, for a double whammy.
• Vigorous Exercise - I won’t be doing this for a week or so due to my Quasi-hunch, but this is actually one that I do religiously. Vigorous exercise releases endorphins, so it gives you a sense of overall wellbeing. It also makes you tired, so you’re more likely to actually sleep when your heads hits that pillow. Both of these things help with your beauty rest. Not to mention being healthy and fit is beautiful in and of itself, so basically exercise is the ultimate beauty tool.
• Know When to Take it Easy - We don’t always have a choice, many of us can’t take a personal day, don’t have a few hours to rest because of kids and chores and jobs and other responsibilities, or simply have a ton of crap to do that can not wait. But if you have even a little bit of a choice, and your body is telling you to slow down, listen to it. Try to do one of the things I listed above, or something you like to do to relax. If you’re like me, you might feel guilty just taking a rest for a while. But if you never rest, you are going to hit a wall eventually and it will end up taking much more of your time to recover than simply taking a few minutes for yourself very now and then.

This is what I’ll be doing this weekend to try to regain some of my inner and outer beauty (or at least walk upright again, maybe?) Let me know in the comments if you have any little tricks you do to help yourself unwind and get some beauty rest, I would love some new things to try!