The quality and length of sleep you receive every night can have a profound impact on your skin’s overall health.  When we sleep  our bodies recharge. Not only do our bodies recharge, our skin does as well. Kaleroy Papantoniou, M.D., is a board-certified New York City dermatologist who explains that, “During sleep we heal, restore and eliminate toxins from the skin. If sleep is compromised, so is the body’s ability to carry out these essential skin functions. During the first three hours of sleep your body will start producing the human growth hormone from the pituitary gland. As we age, this hormone is necessary for the maintenance of youthful and radiant skin.  Without this hormone release, skin is not repaired from daily damage and thus induces the aging process.” The middle two hours of sleep is when melatonin is increased. Melatonin is a hormone that is responsible for regulating your circadian rhythm (sleep/wake patterns) but also acts as an antioxidant that helps protect the skin from damaging free radicals. The final three hours, or during the active REM sleep stage, levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) decrease. Read more at American Spa.