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Whether you're tucked up in bed at home on the weekend, or hitting the hay after a busy day of holiday exploration, for most of us, squeezing in those eight hours of beauty sleep every night is absolutely essential – after all, sleep and beauty go hand-in-hand.
However, if you’re the sort of person who likes to stay up to date with current wellness trends circulating online, then you’ve probably noticed an explosion in wellness content all across social media!
Terms like #glowup have received over 13.3 million posts on Instagram, and a staggering 19.3 million posts on TikTok, with TikTok searches on the topic increasing by 174% in the UK in the last month alone!
We’re also seeing trends like #cleangirlaesthetic making the rounds, which focuses on swapping out the makeup for a fresh-faced look through sensible skincare – something that at least 500k TikTokers are already posting about.
Naturally, this has led to more than a few people searching for the best ways to get a summer glow-up – and to be honest, there’s no better place to do so than in the bustling hub of your nearest big city!
But this begs the question – just where in the UK, Europe, and America are the best places for wellness and sleep?
To find out, we put our heads together to create three different sleep and wellness indexes for these areas, with scores based on various essential sleep and beauty factors, such as sleep volume and quality, noise pollution, and nearby available wellness services.
Not only that, but our experts have taken the time to share their insights around beauty sleep, and how the quality of your bedtime routine could be impacting your skin’s health.
Take a look below to see what we discovered!
The top beauty destinations in the UK
Starting with our home territory of the UK first, here are the best cities in the UK if you’re looking to blend general wellness with your beauty sleep routine:
1. Stoke-on-Trent
Coming in at number one in the UK, we have Stoke-on-Trent, which earned a total sleep and beauty score of 68.77. Being a busy UK city, Stoke-on-Trent is certainly not the quietest of places, but it more than makes up for this with its local wellness facilities.
First off, Stoke came second in our index for the number of spas per 100,000 residents, with 15.3 dotted around the city – just being beaten out by Manchester’s 15.9 – as well as fourth for beauty salons and pharmacies at 72.9 and 38.8 respectively.
However, where Stoke really shines is in its available green space and minimal levels of UV exposure, the latter being very important for maintaining healthy skin during the summer months.
Starting with parks and open areas, Stoke came in top of the list, with a full 46% of the city being designated green space. Combine this with a UV score of 2.9 (the 4th lowest overall), and anyone living in or visiting this city when the sun is out has no excuse not to put some time aside for some much-needed sunbathing!
2. Milton Keynes
Next up and trailing just behind Stoke-on-Trent in terms of its total score, we have the UK’s roundabout capital of Milton Keynes. Scoring a sleep and beauty score of 63.92 out of 100, residents of this city appear to be much more focused on getting their 8 hours compared to our first-place city.
Case and point, Milton Keynes was the best city in our top three when it comes to searches around getting better sleep, with just 1,789 being made per 100,000 residents over the course of the last year. Not only that, but it also beat our other two top cities in terms of light pollution, with a score of just 3.1.
Add to this the fact that Milton Keynes placed fourth overall for air pollution, which is another key factor in keeping our skin looking fresh, and third for noise pollution at 12%, and it’s really no wonder that this city managed to scoop up second place in our UK index.
3. Leeds
Finally, to round out our UK top three, we have the much-loved northern hub of Leeds, which earned itself a very respectable score of 63.33 – that’s a sleep and beauty score difference of just 0.59 when compared to Milton Keynes – and it’s not hard to see why!
Straightaway, Leeds stands out by having the second lowest levels of air pollution in our entire index at 5.4, which is just 0.1 points below Edinburgh in first, as well as being home to the highest average sun hours of our top three UK cities per year at 5.9.
And when it comes to the wellness sphere, Leeds is similarly well equipped, placing third overall for the number of spas per 100,000 people with 12.5, and being sixth for the percentage of green space, seeing 41.9% of the city falling into this category – all of which rightfully puts Leeds in our top 3.
The best cities for a glow-up in the US
Hopping over the pond for our next index, let’s see how US cities compare to the UK when it comes to wellness, sleep, and beauty:
1. Denver
In first place for the US, we have Denver, Colorado. Pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the States, Denver managed to net itself an impressive total score of 80.61 – the largest score for any city out of all three of our indexes and for good reason!
While not placing at the top for any one factor, Denver did have the second lowest percentage of poor sleepers, with only 28.6% of residents claiming to get less than 7 hours of sleep a night, as well as being second for light pollution levels thanks to a score of 5.
Alongside this, Denver was the third-best US city for average yearly sun hours at 9.5, while simultaneously coming fourth for residents with quick park access (96%), before wrapping up its seriously impressive stat line by placing fifth overall for noise pollution at 2.68% - all of which is to say that Denver is very much a beauty sleep and wellness paradise!
2. Portland
Following on from Denver, we then see Portland, Oregon, climbing into second, earning another excellent sleep and beauty score of 74.82. Much like our first-place city, Portland places well across the board, particularly when it comes to our sleep and skin factors.
In fact, while Denver came second for percentage of poor sleepers, Portland actually managed to sweep into first for this factor by just 0.3%, with 28.3% of residents getting less than 7 hours a night. And considering that Portland locals also have the most spas available per 100,000 people at 18.6, that may be because everyone is feeling so zen.
From here, Portland continues to score highly for a variety of other areas, including placing fourth for low light pollution levels at 5.2, fifth for air quality at 5.6, and third for overall for UV impact at 3.4, all of which no doubt contributes to putting the Rose City in second place!
3. Seattle
Lastly, to round out our America city index, we have Seattle in Washington state. A city home to outstanding natural beauty on all sides, it more than earns its score of 74.71 by virtue of excellent placement in a large number of the areas we looked at.
For one thing, and perhaps to no one’s real surprise, Seattle has the lowest level of air pollution out of all the American cities we examined, landing a brilliant score of 4.1 overall, as well as being joint second for resident park access, which caps out at a whopping 99%.
On top of this, Seattle placed third for sleep quality, as only 29% of people living in the city say that they get less than 7 hours a night. And for anyone who enjoys getting outside and into nature, Seattle’s low UV score of 3.3 means that outdoor skincare will be that much easier.
Beauty sleep hotspots in Europe
Last, but not least, if you’re looking to get your summer glow up on the other side of the channel, then you should definitely consider visiting one of these three European cities:
1. Dublin
Moving very close to home for our first-place European city, The Fair City of Dublin managed to earn itself a grand score of 69.23, coming in near the top for numerous sleep and beauty factors on our list.
For one thing, Dublin was actually the number one city for the number of pharmacies and spas per 100,000 people at 15.2 and 4.8, while also having the highest percentage of green space in any European city we looked at, with 43.54% of the city sitting in this category.
And if that wasn’t good enough news for Europe’s wellness lovers, Dublin follows this up by being the third-best city for air pollution with a score of 6.6, as well as being the sixth best for UV levels thanks to an index value of 3.
In other words, the Irish are doing wellness and beauty sleep right!
2. Amsterdam
Moving along to the lowlands, Amsterdam sits just behind Dublin for our European rankings with a score of 64.17. A hub of wellness activity, Amsterdam offers visitors and longtime residents alike plenty of reasons to get engaged in the local wellness scene.
To start with, Amsterdam came top out of our three winning European cities for light pollution, scoring a value of 4.7, while also being first in our top three for average yearly sunlight hours at 6.6.
However, if spas are what you’re after in your wellness routine, then Amsterdam is the place to be. Coming in second overall for spas per 100,000 people at 9.5, you won’t be hard-pressed to find a spot to sweat that stress out and get a much-needed massage afterwards.
3. Helsinki
Finally, to wrap up the European side of things, we’re heading up north to the chilly fringes of Scandinavia. Well-known for its wellness culture already, it’s no wonder that Helsinki placed third in our index, with various factor rankings scoring it a total of 63.01.
Indeed, right out the gate, Helsinki places first for both UV ratings and beauty salons, having a low UV index score of 2.2 and 19.5 salons per 100,000 residents, while also coming second for air pollution at 5.5.
Good sleep is also a priority for many a Helsinki local, with the city being the best in the top three for searches around the topic (1,807), and when you consider that Helsinki also placed fifth for noise pollution at 26%, it’s not like people are being kept awake by loud traffic at night.
Interestingly, despite Scandinavia being best known for its sauna culture, Helsinki placed relatively low in this area. However, given that plenty of Finnish residents have access to their own spa saunas directly, such local services may not be in such high demand.
What’s the science behind sleep and beauty?
Given how essential sleep is for our general wellbeing, you likely won’t shocked to hear that getting your beauty sleep each night also plays an important role in maintaining a healthy appearance.
Getting briefly into the science side of things, sleep gives your body the time and rest it needs to heal all the stress and worries of the day, using this rest time to rehydrate your skin, reduce wrinkles, clear out blocked pores, and rejuvenate our different skin layers – essentially, good sleep equals good skin.
Not only that, but sleep plays a key role in decreasing cortisol for better rest, and regulating general hormone production, all of which can further help to minimise skin damage and leave you waking up looking your best.
In stark contrast to this, anyone who’s ever experienced sleep deprivation will know that even one night of bad sleep can leave you with paler skin, more pronounced wrinkles, and those dreaded drooping eyelids.
Thinking on this, and analysing the results of our different indexes, our Senior Sleep Expert, Martin Seeley, had this to say on the topic:
While it’s great that so many people are embracing wellness culture and focusing on looking after their bodies, at the end of the day, a good wellness routine starts with getting consistent sleep every night – simply put, regular massages and skincare aren’t going to do that much for your appearance if you’re not giving your body the time it needs to rest. With that in mind, perhaps it’s no surprise that the cities that came in towards the bottom of our study were some of the busiest around, and our data certainly suggests that local residents in these locations find getting even 7 hours of good rest a night tricky. Even then, some of our high-ranking cities, particularly in the UK, scored outside the top 10 for sleep quality, suggesting that getting good sleep in a city requires a lot more effort than in more rural locations. Fortunately, there’s plenty you can do to make your bedroom more sleep-friendly, even if you live in a big city, such as by replacing your older mattress and bed with a new one, and by making clever use of eye masks, earplugs, and white noise to mask noise and light pollution and give yourself the kind of rest you need to wake up looking your best!
How can you improve your level of beauty sleep?
So, given how important beauty sleep appears to be, what can you be doing at home to increase the odds of getting a good night’s rest, even if you live in a noisy city district with excessive artificial light?
Why not give out our five top tips below a try, before checking out some of our more in-depth guides on the topic:
- Set a bedtime routine – one of the most common pieces of sleep advice given, there’s a reason you keep hearing it. Put bluntly, maintaining a consistent sleep routine helps to regulate your bodily rhythms, ensuring you’re actually tired when it comes time to sleep.
- Stay hydrated – we all know how important hydration is for staying alert during the day, but drinking plenty of water is also very important for keeping your skin looking plump and fresh, reducing wrinkles and minimising the prominence of dark circles under the eyes.
- Avoid mouth-breathing – while it might feel uncomfortable to swap to nose breathing in bed at first, doing so can actually be very beneficial for the skin around your mouth. This is because constant mouth breathing can dry out your lips, leading to chapped skin and a dry tongue upon waking.
- Clean your sheets – needless to say, dirty sheets are a recipe for spotty and oily skin, clogging pores, and exacerbating any skin problems you may already have. So, if you haven’t already, get into the habit of washing your sheets at least every two weeks, and consider swapping to a silk pillow to take advantage of its hygienic benefits.
- Practice good skin care – while you may already follow a good skincare routine, if you don’t already have one, try to get into the habit of wearing sunscreen daily and moisturising and cleansing your skin every day. Doing so will further reduce prominent wrinkles, and it leave you feeling more self-confident than ever before.
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And there you have it; those were the best cities in the UK, Europe, and America for those looking to combine wellness and beauty sleep into one unique package!
Of course, as Martin says, all the wellness practices in the world won’t do you much good if you’re not getting the sort of sleep you need to begin with – which is exactly where MattressNextDay can lend a hand!
From oh-so-comfortable new mattresses to squeak-free bed frames, there’s something for everyone in our collection. Get in touch today to take advantage of our next-day delivery service and enjoy your new bedroom set-up in less than 24 hours!
Methodology
In order to create our beauty sleep index, two different data sets were created. One for the UK and Europe, and another for the US:
UK and EU dataset
This dataset ranks the 30 most populated UK and EU cities based on how good they are for beauty and wellness.
To do this, 10 different factors were used. Once the data for the factors was collected, the factors were normalised to provide each factor with a score between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given.
The normalised values were then summed and multiplied to give each city a total score out of 100. The cities were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.
The factors used were as follows:
- Sleepless searches per 100k – the combined number of searches for the prompts "Can't Sleep", "Insomnia", and "Sleeping Pills", per 100,000 people, selecting the highest number of searches from prompts in English or the local native language, from May 24th-Apr 25th.
- Light pollution – the average light pollution brightness levels in each city, calculated by averaging 3 data points in each city in mcd/m2.
- Air pollution index – the 2024 air pollution index score for each city, according to iqair.
- Noise pollution – the percentage of residents within each city who are regularly exposed to noise levels above 55dB.
- Green space – the percentage of area in each city that is officially defined as green space.
- Average daily sun hours – the average daily sun hours in each city, according to weather-atlas.
- Average UV Index score – the average UV Index score in each city, according to weather-atlas.
- Beauty salons per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Beauty Salons in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "beauty_salon".
- Pharmacies per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Pharmacies in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "pharmacy".
- Spas per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Spas in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "spa".
The factors were then indexed as follows:
- Sleepless searches per 100k – lower is better.
- Light pollution – lower is better.
- Air pollution index – lower is better.
- Noise pollution – lower is better.
- Green space – higher is better.
- Average daily sun hours – higher is better.
- Average UV Index score – lower is better.
- Beauty salons per 100k – higher is better.
- Pharmacies per 100k – higher is better.
- Spas per 100k – higher is better.
All data is correct as of 04/06/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regard to the sources provided.
Cities from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine were excluded from the ranking.
US dataset
This dataset ranks the 30 most populated US cities based on how good they are for beauty and wellness.
To do this, 10 different factors were used. Once the data for the factors was collected, the factors were then normalised to provide each factor with a score between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given.
The normalised values were then summed and multiplied to give each city a total score out of 100. The cities were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.
The factors used were as follows:
- Less than 7 hours sleep – the percentage of residents in each city that reported getting less than 7 hours sleep a night.
- Light pollution – the average light pollution brightness levels in each city, calculated by averaging 3 data points in each city, in mcd/m2.
- Air pollution index – the 2024 air pollution index score for each city, according to iqair.
- Noise pollution – the percentage of residents within each state who are regularly exposed to noise levels over 60dB. [State Level]
- Residents within 10 minutes of a park – the percentage of residents within each city that live within a 10-minute walk of a park.
- Average daily sun hours – the average daily sun hours in each city, according to weather-atlas.
- Average UV Index score – the average UV Index in each city, according to weather-atlas.
- Beauty salons per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Beauty Salons in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "beauty_salon".
- Pharmacies per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Pharmacies in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "pharmacy".
- Spas per 100k – the number of results on Google Maps using the prompt "Spas in X", where X is the city, per 100,000 people. Results were further filtered for those with a business category containing "spa".
The factors were then indexed as follows:
- Less than 7 hours sleep – lower is better.
- Light pollution – lower is better.
- Air pollution index – lower is better.
- Noise pollution – lower is better.
- Residents within 10 minutes from a park – higher is better.
- Average daily sun hours – higher is better.
- Average UV Index score – lower is better.
- Beauty salons per 100k – higher is better.
- Pharmacies per 100k – higher is better.
- Spas per 100k – higher is better.
All data is correct as of 04/06/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regard to the sources provided.
