Waking up with puffiness that does not go away after a cold shower isn’t something that anybody likes experiencing. And it’s not ominous about how your day is going to go.
Nobody wants to go about their day looking like they were kicked out of bed by noon. There are so many reasons you might experience puffiness on specific parts of your face or your entire face.
For some people waking up with a swollen face is a daily occurrence and for some, it’s something that happens only once in a while.
Here are some of the major causes of the puffy face in the mornings (or facial bloating):
1. Dehydration
Puffiness in the body is usually a result of water retention. Even though it sounds counterintuitive; why do you have to drink more water to combat the fluid the body has accumulated?
But then, the body only resorts to this whenever it is dehydrated. It’s the body’s way of taking care of itself when we fall short.
Staying hydrated throughout the day can be your way out of looking bloated every morning.
2. Sleeping Posture
Apart from the effect, a poor sleep posture can have on your spine, it might influence the reflection you see in the mirror when you wake up.
Sleeping on your back is the best sleeping posture for people who aren’t pregnant or instructed otherwise by a medical practitioner. It’s best to sleep on your back with about two pillows propped beneath your head.
This ensures that your head stays elevated, thus preventing water accumulation.
3. Sleeping with Make-up and Contact Lenses
Dermatologists keep speaking about how much damage leaving your make-up throughout the night can have on your skin.
The chemicals in your makeup can do a lot of damage to your skin. Leaving your make-up on overnight can cause a variety of skin problems including clogged pores, irritation, chapped lips, wrinkling, and clogged eyelash follicles.
Likewise, wearing your contacts overnight can cause irritation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleeping in your contact lenses puts you at risk of an eye infection.
Also read: How Your Diet Can Affect the Appearance and Health of Your Skin
4. Alcohol
Alcohol dehydrates the body. Most times, after a night spent overindulging in alcoholic beverages, you wake up with a face that looks like you swallowed a giant burger without swallowing.
And because dehydration is one of the major causes of water retention, whenever you drink more than you’re supposed to, you tend to wake up looking like a different person the next day.
5. Allergies
Besides an allergic reaction to things you consume, your face can also react negatively to your environment and bedding. Sleeping on a bedding material that your body does not agree with can make your face blotchy.
Puffiness can also be caused by synthetic fibers, dirty bedding, or the chemicals in the material used to wash the fabric.
Hypoallergenic sheets could help with this as they are made of materials that are naturally resistant to dust mists.
6. Stress
Stress can do a lot of damage to your appearance and those ever-present under-eye bags and puffiness can result from not taking time to relax.
Not getting enough sleep can affect your appearance, especially your eye region. Also, oversleeping can make your face look bloated.
7. Hormones
Hormonal changes affect people in different ways. Reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone can cause changes in your appearance including bloating.
Another hormone that can cause facial swelling is the thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism, a condition that arises when the thyroid gland isn’t producing enough thyroid hormones can lead to persistent facial swelling.
Also read: Quick and Easy Methods for Managing Menstrual Bloating
8. Diet
What you consume during the day, especially before going to bed, plays a great role in determining how you look and feel in the morning.
Food high in sodium should be a no-no if you want to wake up looking and feeling refreshed.
So, if you’re wondering why you always wake up looking puffy and dull and your dinner every other day comprises food like bacon, soy sauce, cheese, pizza, fries, burgers, chips, and ramen then you better start thinking of changing your dinner menu at least.
Also, taking food items with a high quantity of artificial sweeteners can cause facial bloating.
Infographic Provided By Dermal Filler Injections Company, Revanesse.
Final Words
Now that you have an idea of what might be causing your bloating, ensure that you make healthy decisions.
Try to avoid triggers and apart from practicing a healthy morning routine, performing facial exercises can go a long way.
One exercise you can do is vowel exercise. You do this by saying each of the vowels using exaggerated movements for about 20 seconds.
About The Author: Dinma Osoka
Dinma is an avid reader and researcher. She can’t imagine a life without Google and is obsessed with making discoveries about the human body and the essence of life (though she hasn’t made much headway on the latter).
Image Credit: Unsplash
This article is published by our independent team of health and wellness pundits that publish original and informative content to empower readers to take charge of their health and embark on a physically, mentally, and emotionally balanced lifestyle.
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