Is Balancing Your Gut Microbiome the Path to Better Sleep?

September 3, 2023

by Cathe Friedrich

How’s your sleep? Scientists are uncovering links between sleep and the microorganisms in your gut, called the gut microbiome. These tiny residents in our intestines are crucial for health, and they may also affect how you sleep. Similarly, how you sleep can influence your gut microbes and the composition of your gut microbiome.

The Ecosystem That Is Your Gut Microbiome

Before we explore the complexities of sleep and gut health, let’s grasp the concept of the gut microbiome. Visualize it as a bustling city within your digestive system, filled with a diverse population of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and numerous others. In fact, your gut microbes outnumber your own cells by 10 to 1.

While this might strike you as unconventional, these microscopic entities play a major role in health. They orchestrate the digestion of your food, wield influence over your immune defenses, and even influence brain health. So influential is your gut on the health of your nervous system that it’s sometimes referred to as the “second brain.”

So, it’s not surprising that the state of your gut microbes, that bustling community of diverse life forms, might affect how well—or how poorly—you sleep at night. Recent scientific investigations are shedding light on how sleep and the gut microbiome are entangled. Let’s decode how our sleep patterns might impact the well-being of our gut microbiome—and vice versa.

Lack of Sleep Can Affect Your Gut Bugs

Sleep quality and the gut microbiome are two-way street. In the realm of how our body works, scientists have unveiled something interesting. When you don’t get enough sleep, it impacts the small organisms in your gut, known as the gut microbiome. A study found that inadequate sleep leads to changes in gut microbiome composition. This suggests that poor sleep might harm the mix of microorganisms in your gut. So, getting good sleep is important for keeping these tiny creatures healthy.

This study should make us think about how lifestyle choices, like how we sleep, affect not only how we feel but also the tiny world of living things in your gut and their balance. It’s a reminder that adopting healthier sleep habits may also help keep your gut in balance.

Recent findings from another study reveal a potential link between the gut microbiome and inflammation, a driver of chronic health problems, including cardiovascular disease. In simpler terms, not getting enough quality sleep might cause inflammation. The ongoing fires of inflammation then contribute to insulin resistance and poor metabolic health.

So, sleep affects the composition of our gut microbiome, but can the make-up of your gut microbiome also change how you sleep?

Your Gut Bugs May Affect Your Sleep Too

Diving deeper into the intricate web of our body’s interactions, a recent scientific study uncovered a captivating revelation—transplanting gut bacteria could affect sleep patterns too.

In this study, scientists took gut bacteria from mice experiencing sleep apnea—a condition characterized by disrupted breathing during sleep—and introduced these bacteria into other mice. The outcome? The sleep patterns of the recipient mice underwent distinct changes. This intriguing discovery prompts us to recognize the gut microbiome’s unsuspected role in shaping the way we sleep.

In essence, the results suggest that the gut microbiome can hold significant sway over sleep behaviors and could explain why some people, with poor gut health, struggle to get a good night’s sleep. And it’s a vicious cycle! Poor sleep, in turn, further harms gut health. This points toward a remarkable bidirectional relationship between the gut microbiome and our sleep regulation—a connection that was previously underestimated.

How Might the Gut Microbiome Impact Your Sleep?

This link between sleep and gut health may be explained by something called the brain-gut microbiome axis (BGMA). Our gut microbes can send signals to our brain through this axis, affecting how well we sleep.

In straightforward terms, think of the gut microbiome as these tiny beings residing in your intestines. They have a say in how your brain and nervous system function, and consequently, they impact how you sleep. This revelation hints that the goodness of our sleep doesn’t just rely on our bedtime rituals; it’s tied to the well-being of these microorganisms inside us.

When we delve into the topic of sleep quality, it transcends the mere act of counting sheep. It entails the intricate link that exists between our gut and our brain. Nurturing our gut microbiome may very well represent a stride toward enhancing our sleep, unveiling a novel dimension in our pursuit of overall well-being.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, we don’t know the exact gut microbiome composition that would benefit sleep, but it’s important to keep your gut microbiome diverse by eating a variety of fiber-rich foods that support your well-being. In fact, one study showed that sleep quality was strongly linked with a more diverse gut microbiome. So, do your gut microbiome a favor by staying away from ultra-processed food. They contain additives that may disrupt the gut microbiome and they lack fiber. Stick to whole, unprocessed foods, and lots of plants. Also, eat healthy and practice good sleep hygiene and watch it improve your sleep quality.

References:

Smith RP, Easson C, Lyle SM, Kapoor R, Donnelly CP, Davidson EJ, Parikh E, Lopez JV, Tartar JL. Gut microbiome diversity is associated with sleep physiology in humans. PLoS One. 2019 Oct 7;14(10):e0222394. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222394. PMID: 31589627; PMCID: PMC6779243.
Study Finds Gut Microbiome Plays Important Role in Sleep Regulation. Missouri.edu. Published September 23, 2020. Accessed August 11, 2023. https://medicine.missouri.edu/news/study-finds-gut-microbiome-plays-important-role-sleep-regulation.
“Microbiota and sleep: awakening the gut feeling – ScienceDirect.” 01 Oct. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471491421001854.
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“8 Surprising Facts About Your Gut Microbiome – Psychology Today.” 11 Jun. 2021, https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/urban-survival/202106/8-surprising-facts-about-your-gut-microbiome.
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