Your Ultimate Guide on How to Get Clear Skin

Ah, sleep. It’s the difference between a bright day full of sunshine and peonies…and scaring the barista at Starbucks. You already know it’s a major factor in keeping yourself healthy, but perhaps you’re like us and didn’t realize that sleep is also a major factor in how to get clear skin. 

Turns out, when you skip a solid eight hours of shut-eye, your skin’s surface layer has a harder time recovering from the daily damage it endures. Luckily, we’ve rounded up nine tips that’ll help you get the rest you need and wake up feeling like you can finally (maybe) forgo the under-eye concealer.

Turn to sleepyti.me, a website that suggests an ideal bedtime based on when you need to wake up. (Turns out, more sleep isn’t always better.) The trick is to arise between REM cycles, not in the middle of one, which is a recipe for grogginess. For example, if you normally get up for work at 7 a.m., try to conk out around 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m…or 1 a.m. Who knew?

You already know that you should quit drinking caffeine by noon (it stays in your system for eight to 14 hours). But did you know that the foods you eat for dinner can also affect your sleep schedule? Try to consume items containing sleep-promoting nutrients like tryptophan, melatonin and magnesium. For example, quinoa mixed with sautéed greens, sliced chicken breast and roasted pumpkin seeds. Then, for dessert, opt for a cherry frozen yogurt (cherries are a natural source of melatonin) instead of your usual Rocky Road.

You buy sneakers and sports bras according to your body’s needs, so why settle on a one-size-fits-all pillow? Bedgear pillows and accessories are uniquely designed to fit different sleep positions (stomach sleepers, side sleepers, etc.), ensuring you’ll get the most restorative night possible. They even have a Pillow ID feature that lets you create your perfect fit (we’re using the Twilight Performance Pillow--thanks for asking).

In both senses of the phrase. Obviously, you should be relaxed before bed, but it also helps to sleep in a room that’s between 60 and 65 degrees. Because your body cools down as you sleep, a lower room temperature aids in the natural cooling process, improving the quality of your sleep. Worried you’ll wake up to a freezing-cold home? That’s what the Nest thermostat is for. It learns your daily habits and adjusts your home’s temperature accordingly.

Introducing one of the best tricks to relaxing before bed. In the 4-7-8 technique, you breathe to the counts of four, seven and eight--which for some reason acts as a natural tranquilizer for the body. First, you exhale audibly and completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound. Then you inhale for a mental count of four. Hold that for a count of seven before exhaling through your mouth for a count of eight. Repeat three times or until you find a rhythm.

This tip comes straight from Beautyrest (yep, the mattress company). What to do: Close your eyes and try to visualize the details of your childhood home. Walk the hallways. Go in and out of every room. Picture the Laura Ashley comforter you had for a decade. The next thing you know, the sun is streaming in and, hallelujah, you just logged a solid six hours of sleep. Why this works? Distraction. For every minute you’re focused on visualizing your home, it’s one less minute you’re stressing about what happened at work that day.