"I’m a Mom Who Slept 10 Hours a Night for a Month—Here’s How It Took 7 Years Off My Face, Saved Me £200, and Boosted My Libido!"

THERE’S a face I’ve come to dread seeing at 7am in the bathroom mirror.

Grey beneath the eyes, creases that weren’t there last month, dull, lifeless skin… and I was convinced I knew the reason behind it.

Jayne Cherrington-Cook decided to see if 10 hours’ kip a night could help her turn back the clock, pictured now Credit: Lorna Roach Writer Jayne was left looking older than her 52 years after years of sleep deprivation, above before sleeping ten hours a night

“You don’t look it,” I often used to hear when I told people my age. Not so much these days, though, and I have a fair idea why.

My son Milo, my only , is almost 16 and he’s never been a good sleeper.

Since he was born, I’ve averaged five or six hours a night and he still gets me up occasionally.

If it isn’t him with some middle-of-the-night teen crisis, it’s my hormones deciding 3am is a perfectly reasonable time for a catch-up.

The writer swapped midnight doom-scrolls for 9pm lights-out for a few weeks Credit: Lorna Roach Corrie star Tina O’Brien, who’s 42, credited her glow to a solid 10 hours a night Credit: Instagram/@tinaobrien Gorgeous Louise Redknapp is another celeb who has a glow-from-within skin Credit: Getty Extra shut-eye has helped Jayne’s skin and given her a lot more energy

Turns out I’m in good company, as according to a recent survey around 79 per cent of perimenopausal and women report problems.

The daytime doesn’t offer much respite either. I’m a freelance writer and Milo is being homeschooled in the run-up to his , meaning I routinely have to work late into the night, or get up at silly o’clock to steal a head start.

Inevitably, it shows. Sleep is a proven, powerful tool which boosts production and prevents sagging and wrinkles.

Deep sleep, usually during the first half of the night, reduces stress hormones which play havoc with skin elasticity.

One study found women regularly sleeping five hours or less had almost double the signs of – fine lines, uneven pigmentation, reduced elasticity – as those on seven to nine hours.

Scrolling through , I’ll land on , or , who are all within shouting distance of my age, and feel a stab of envy as I admire their glow-from-within skin.

I haven’t written off or fillers, but I’m wary that once I start I won’t stop. So for now, I’d rather throw everything else at it – a nightly retinol cream, an LED mask a couple of times a week, plus the odd professional facial.

So when ‘s , who’s 42, but looks infuriatingly like a 28-year-old, credited her glow to a solid 10 hours a night, I paid attention.

Spring out of bed

For the next few weeks I’d be swapping midnight doom-scrolls for 9pm lights-out.

Could 10 hours a night really take years off my face? Or would I just be very well-rested, but still visibly knackered?

I was determined to find out.

And there was another reason to be hopeful.

Studies suggest better sleep is linked to a healthier libido and mine, since perimenopause hit, had all but vanished.

Could ten hours a night reawaken more than just my skin?

Night one. I’m in bed by 8.30pm, which feels just odd. My book lasts about six pages before my eyes start closing. I’m out cold by 9pm.

I surface once in the small hours and drop straight back off. When my alarm goes off at 7am, I’m already awake. No snooze button repeatedly pressed. I actually spring out of bed.

At my weekly dance class that morning, something clicks. My brain is sharper and I pick up the new routine straight away and stop fluffing the turns.

And at 3pm, the hour I normally start eyeing the biscuit tin, nothing. No slump. Just energy.

After that promising start, things got wobblier. Plenty of my friends admitted they were often conked out by 9pm, but to me it felt absurdly early.

I’m no longer relying on coffee to drag me through the day, while my horrible menopausal brain fog has eased

Jayne Cherrington-Cook

On night two I was in bed by 9pm, but I lay wide awake, reading for half an hour before drifting off, only to wake at 11.30pm and again at 2am.

Some nights I fell easily, others I’d take ages. Towards the end, I pushed bedtime back to 10pm and it made a world of difference.

That extra hour gave me what I’d clearly needed: time to wind down. By 10pm I was relaxed and dropped off quickly.

Even on the nights I do wake now, I’ve already banked a decent stretch, so I don’t feel nearly as exhausted. I’m no longer relying on to drag me through the day, while my horrible menopausal brain fog has eased, too.

A few days in, Milo squints at me over his cereal. “You look different,” he says.

I brace for a teenage insult, but it doesn’t come. He continues: “I can’t put my finger on it. You just look more like you used to.”

As a rule, 15-year-old boys are not in the business of unsolicited compliments. And “more like you used to” is not quite the same as being told you look younger – it’s almost better. It’s being told your face has come back.

New lease of energy

With my new lease of energy, I start going to work events I’d normally have swerved. At one, a woman I’m chatting to leans in and asks: “Sorry, what moisturiser are you using?”

When I say I’m 52, she properly recoils and says: “Get off. I had you down as mid-forties.”

Twice in one week. I’ll take it. I’m also not piling on the the way I used to. A bit of tinted eye cream is often all I need.

My bank balance is healthier, too. Winding down used to involve scrolling shopping sites until far too late.

Going to bed two or three hours earlier has cut off that window and, with it, the urge to buy things I don’t need. I reckon I’ve saved about £100 on impulse purchases alone.

My bank balance got a boost for another reason, too. This experiment did all but kill my social life and that was honestly the hardest part.

My life is too busy to fit neatly into that much sleep every night. But this experiment has shown me just how powerful more rest can be

Jayne Cherrington-Cook

I’m no party animal, but regular catch-ups with friends and the odd date night with my husband Russ, 55, a civil servant, are what keeps me sane.

Ditching those probably saved me another £120, but while early dinners and evening walks are all very wholesome, they’re not the same as a proper night out.

I made one exception for a later dinner with Russ, on the basis I could lie in the next morning.

It was fun going out later, but as the night wore on I was fading fast. My body, it seems, had already got the memo about bedtime.

And it wasn’t only my social life that took a hit. Russ was having none of the 9pm bedtime. “What am I, 80?” he said, opting to stay downstairs with , padding up around 11pm when I was already out cold. We were ships passing in the night… and not in the way that makes for a fun life.

However, I did notice something I haven’t felt in a long time: a stirring.

Since perimenopause set in, my libido has all but left the building. But with more sleep and a spring in my step, my sex drive has quietly come knocking again.

I caught myself being more affectionate with Russ in passing – a hand on his back, a kiss in the kitchen – and willing the experiment to end so we could finally have some proper time together.

Will I be sleeping 10 hours a night from here on in? Probably not.

My life is too busy to fit neatly into that much every night. But this experiment has shown me just how powerful more rest can be.

From now on, I’m aiming for a more doable 10.30pm bedtime, with the occasional 9pm when I’m truly shattered.

That’s probably been the real lesson. Sleep works best when it doesn’t become another thing to obsess over. During the experiment, sleep stopped being relaxing and became another source of pressure, exactly what I don’t need.

Can 10 hours of sleep really take years off your face? For me, I don’t look miraculously young again, but it was enough to fool a stranger at a work event and also catch my teenage son’s eye. And at 52, that’s plenty.

What’s more, that stirring didn’t disappear when the experiment did. Since easing back to my 10.30pm bedtime, I’ve got the energy to get mine an Russ’s sex life properly back on track.