(Image Source: Disney)
BY KYRSTEN SKULBORSTAD
You're watching multisource health video news analysis from Newsy.
Turns out, Sleeping Beauty may have had the secret to the “beauty” part all along -- a good night’s rest. Researchers in Sweden are calling their experimental study on “beauty sleep” the first scientific piece of support for the truth behind the fairy-tale.
The British Medical Journal published the study, led by John Axelsson and his team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
San Diego’s KSWB outlines the methodology.
“They took pictures of the same people, one picture after a full eight hours of sleep, another after they stayed up 31 hours straight. The subjects made the same facial expression and stood in the same lighting. People who rated the pictures said those who hadn’t slept looked less healthy and, quote, ‘uglier.’”
The study consisted of 23 participants between the ages of 18 and 31 -- with 65 different people judging the attractiveness of each individual’s photos. CNN asks you to weigh-in, and explains the conclusions.
“So, which one of these photos was taken after the guy was sleep-deprived for 31 hours? The answer is -- can you get it -- the picture on the right. … Observers scored the sleep-deprived volunteers less-healthy and less attractive. Researchers say the results could help doctors pick up signs of ill health in their patients.”
ABC’s Nightline reports we know far too little about all the restorative effects of sleep.
REPORTER: "When you get right down to it, we don’t know exactly how or why sleep revives us. What we can spend nearly 1/3 of our lives doing, we know very little about.”
GUEST EXPERT: “Sleep has been ignored by at least part of the scientific community and part of the medical community. It’s so much easier to study wakefulness.”
This was one of the reasons Axelsson decided to explore the notion of beauty sleep. And Time Magazine also reports another motivation: the fact that Axelsson couldn’t answer his 12-year-old daughter’s question on, “whether it was the long nap that made sleeping beauty so lovely.”
In the interview, Axelsson also noted one significant implication his team’s study could have on the broader scientific community.
"’There are so many old 'sayings' or beliefs incorporated in our culture, but we do not know if they are true. … It is our scientists' responsibility to evaluate the truth in them.’"
This experimental beauty sleep study is drawing little-to-no criticism, as most news organizations report it could act as a launch pad into further scientific inquiry.
Get more multi-source heatlh video news analysis from Newsy.com.
