Here’s a deep dark secret: I’ve repeatedly advised sleeping on your back to avoid facial wrinkles, but I sleep on my stomach. It’s not exactly practicing what you preach, and I’ve promised myself I’d stop doing it hundreds of times. Sometimes I even try, thinking, “Tonight, I will definitely sleep on my back.” By morning I’m always on my stomach with half my face buried in to the pillow.
But a new study has made me feel just a little less guilty about my sleeping habits. Well, it’s only a preliminary study, but these early results seems to indicate that the side you prefer to sleep on might not have as much of an effect on aging your skin. After questioning participants about the side they sleep on, researchers checked out if one side of their face was more wrinkled or ptotic (sagging) (Dermatologic Surgery). Here’s what they found.
The Stats on Side Sleepers
100 women participated in the study.
48.5 years-old was the mean age.
42 were right-sided sleepers.
23 were left-sided sleepers.
Researchers found that there was no significant relationship between sleep side preference and wrinkles. That should be good news for you side and stomach sleepers who bury your face into the pillow! Of course, there are a few limitations: The sample size is small; The women self-reported their sleeping positions; The women only talked about how they sleep now. And repetitive motion can cause wear and tear of skin that causes wrinkles, so you might still want to be cautious by using silk pillow cases and trying to sleep on your back. But this just might end up being good news for side and stomach sleepers.
What Did They Find that REALLY Caused Wrinkles?
But guess what else? Researchers founds something that does cause wrinkles.
Researchers noticed that these women seemed to be getting similar wrinkles. Here’s a hint: it was on the left side. If you guessed that this facial wrinkling and ptotic was caused by driving, you’d be right. The study was located in a facility in the suburbs where driving is common. Researchers suspected what other studies have shown: that drivers are likelier to get wrinkles on the left side of their faces.
A case study in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at the face of a man who’d driven trucks for 28 years and found that the left side of his face had been exposed to more sunlight, had more fine lines and wrinkles, more sallowness and dryness, and had lost more elasticity than the right side of his face. The image is striking (click here to see it) and the effects of years of cellular damage is very apparent.
The reason for this is that, unfortunately, most windows let in a significant portion of UVA rays (62.8%). Unlike UVB rays, which cause initial burning, UVA rays are 30 to 50 times more prevalent and penetrate more deeply than UVB rays (Skin Cancer Foundation). Inevitably, these do long-term cellular damage that causes aging. It’s important to protect yourself regularly with a good sunscreen, like Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock with Helioplex ($11.99, amazon.com). And, pro tip, you’ll prevent free radical damage more and give your sunscreen a boost if you layer a vitamin C serum, like FutureDerm Vitamin CE Caffeic Serum, under your sunscreen.
Bottom Line
It might not matter which side you sleep on. Dermatologists have warned for years that it’s best to sleep on your back to prevent fine lines and wrinkles, but this study suggests that it might not matter. Still, these results are preliminary and we’ll need to see more evidence in the future. We do, however, consistently see in studies that sun exposure in the car, where many people don’t think they’re getting it, can really do a number on your skin. So be sure to slather that sun protection on every single day!
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*Editor’s Note: This post contains affiliate links.