Gut Health and Sleep-Research Unravels the Amazing Link

On average, we spend approximately one third of our lives sleeping.  That could be about 25 years for the person who lives to age 75!  Sleep is an integral part of every day, and it is amazing that for playing such an important role it still eludes so many.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 35% of adults do not get enough sleep.  Some 50-70 million suffer from at least one sleep disorder, with 30 million struggling with insomnia.  Research has been unraveling the deeper connection lack of sleep has with heart disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, depression, and cancer.

The two main factors regulating sleep are circadian rhythm and sleep drive.  Both factors are linked to the gut, specifically the microbiome and the food choices we make.  Beyond regulating wakefulness and the desire to sleep, circadian rhythm plays a role in determining body temperature, hormone secretions, metabolic rate, emotional state, appetite, and digestive function.  Our sleep drive is highly influenced by the chemical adenosine, which decreases alertness and eventually brings on the desire to sleep.

Sleep is highly controlled and very predictable.  There are two different types of sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), which occur through a total of five stages that repeat every 90 minutes for about five cycles over a full night’s sleep.  It is that precise!  It’s during the deepest stages of NREM that the body boosts immunity, balances metabolism, regulates blood pressure and repairs muscles/tissues.  REM sleep, commonly known as the dreaming stage, takes the information transferred during NREM and integrates it with all other existing memories.  REM helps make sense of what we learned that day and places it in the context of what we already know.  It acts as an emotional reset and finds resolution with the day’s experiences.  This overnight therapy session is what makes it possible to wake level-headed, accurately read social cues, and navigate through life’s challenges.

A loss of sleep, defined as sleeping less than seven hours a day, impairs well-being and results in a suboptimal physical and psychological state.  Even over a mere 10 days, the brain and body are deeply compromised.  Just imagine what years of insufficient sleep may do!  As sleep deprivation keeps the stress axis on high alert, the effects alter metabolic activity, particularly insulin regulation thereby further suppressing the immune system.  When the sympathetic nervous system stays in an “on” position without balance from the parasympathetic nervous system, the result is suppression of anti-viral and anti-inflammatory processes and higher susceptibility to disease.  But it does not stop there.  The sleep-immunity connection is also intricately linked to the gut.

Your microbiome, which is comprised of over a thousand different types of bacteria in your gut and unique to each one of us, has its own internal rhythm or clock, just as the body is governed by a circadian rhythm.  These two rhythms are intertwined and work together to manage digestion, immunity, brain chemistry, and sleep.

How does sleep manage our appetite, metabolism, and long-term weight management?  It comes down to hormones.  When we are sleep deprived, there is a shift in many of the hormones that stimulate hunger and alter our metabolism.  When our hormones are working effectively, we experience a healthy appetite, feel satisfied from our meals, and maintain a fit weight.  It’s another story when sleep loss disrupts the actions of these hormones.  Ultimately, less sleep shifts the entire hormone network to stimulate hunger and create cravings, leaving us unsatisfied and struggling with weight management.  So, what’s the take-home message?  Make sleep a priority!

The gut-sleep connection is bi-directional, so not only is sleep important for us to manage our digestive hormones, but it is important for us to create eating strategies to support the microbiome to help regulate and improve sleeping patterns.  Some suggestions for these strategies include:

• Eat a primarily plant-based diet
• Add small amounts of fermented foods
• Minimize caffeine consumption
• Make dinner the smallest meal
• Add mindfulness to your eating experiences

Lifestyle choices and nutrition aid in the gut-sleep connection.  Sleep is a pillar of health and well-being, as it touches all aspects of body and mind.  We can begin to improve our quality of sleep, decrease the onset of chronic illnesses and, perhaps, extend our life spans by beginning to nurture the gut-sleep connection.  The human design is holistic, with every system of the body inter-connected.  Seek out consistency in your eating and sleep routines to reap the benefits and live a healthier life.

Source:  Fitness Journal, IDEA Health and Fitness Association, March/April 2020