Getting a good night's sleep helps you look your best. Photo: Flickr, Lauren Close
With all those Christmas party invites cluttering up your in-tray It may not be the best time of year to recommend having an early night. But Swedish researchers claim to have come up with the first evidence that backs the idea behind beauty sleep. In other words, beauty sleep isn't a myth, and getting a good night's rest really does make you look more attractive.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, the scientists - from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm - suggest how much sleep you get may indeed play an important part in how attractive and healthy you appear to others.
Their study may have been a small one, involving just 23 people aged 18 to 31, but it does suggest going to bed early whenever you can is a good idea if you want to look your best.
The volunteers - all non-smokers - were photographed in the middle of the afternoon, once after having a full eight hours of sleep and again after having a shorter period of sleep then being kept awake for 31 hours.
The two sets of photos were then shown to another group of volunteers who ranked the images according to how healthy, attractive or sleep-deprived they thought they looked.
Unsurprisingly the photos that were taken after the short night's sleep were rated as less healthy, more tired and less attractive than the photos taken after the volunteers had had a proper night's rest.
The researchers conclude that sleep deprivation actually affects your facial appearance. So perhaps instead of saving up for Botox jabs you should invest in a new mattress?
How does not getting enough sleep affect you?