Sleep – the elixir of life.
Many of us already know the importance of good quality sleep and we’re aware of the disrupting influences of caffeine, screen use and stress. Check out this month’s #sleep topic in the Tonic and Me app for much more support, tools and tips! But did you specifically know that your gut bacteria are involved in the regulation of sleep and the circadian rhythm?
Emerging research is showing that good gut bacterial diversity can help you to achieve better quality sleep. Good diversity means having a large number of different species of bacteria in your gut, with more friendly and fewer unfriendly strains. If you have good gut bacterial diversity, then you are more likely to sleep deeply, sleep for longer, and be less likely to wake during the night.
There is absolutely no doubt that food has a huge influence on our gut bacteria – usually quite quickly, and in some cases, in as little as two days after dietary changes are introduced.
What can we do to support good gut bacterial diversity?
A good place to start is by looking at your diet to see how much of it is real food and how much is processed. Research is showing links with the consumption of processed and refined foods with lower sleep quality, and several mechanisms are involved. UPF’s are one of the worst culprits.
What the “UPF”?
UPFs are foods that are packaged and have five or more ingredients, including those which you wouldn’t usually use at home in your own food preparation.
UPF’s are known to interact with our gut bacterial strains and reduce diversity. For example, common additives polysorbate 80 and sodium sulfite are found in a wide range of processed foods, yet they have a strong inhibitory effect on one of our most valued anti-inflammatory strains, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.
UPFs have been directly associated with anxiety related sleep disturbances.
So we know that your gut health can affect your sleep, and vice versa.
And this is in part due to the connection between your brain and what’s known as your gut microbiome.
So, let’s talk about…
Microbiomes:
We all contain multitudes of microbes (bacteria, yeast, and viruses), called our “microbiome.” We would not be able to properly digest food without them living in our gut, or to have a working immune system without regular exposure to these microbes
Your gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes, and plays an important role in the regulation of sleep (as well as many other aspect of your health, as we have mentioned). We need to nurture and support it with real food; polyphenols play a role here and this is how to improve yours!
Polyphenols:
Polyphenols are natural compounds that give plant foods their deep colours. They act as fuel for gut microbes. We need to be eating multiple varieties of polyphenol-rich foods every day to get the benefits.
So, now for some simple but effective solutions to improve yours!
Some Solutions:
- Choosing different coloured varieties of foods that you normally eat can make a real difference.
- Try red apples, lettuce and cabbage instead of green; red or black rice instead of white.
- Deep coloured berries are a fab source of polyphenols and easy to include with your breakfast porridge or smoothie.
- Choose a wholegrain rye sourdough loaf instead of sliced white.
- Swap that processed cereal bar for a plum or a small handful of black grapes with some pecans or hazelnuts.
- Spinach, broccoli and carrots will also give your bacteria a boost.
Our last take-home:
If optimal health is on your agenda, then maximizing your sleep (quality and duration) is vital. And if this is the case then investing some time in your nutrition and eating habits is a great place to explore to gain some immediate wins!!
Get started right away by simply checking the labels of all packaged foods that you buy. Is there an option to buy a product with fewer ingredients? Even better, is there a natural food that you could choose instead?
And if you want to try to add some colour and therefore polyphenols into your diet download our “Eat the Alphabet” poster.
Download
If you look after your gut bacteria, they will look after you.
If you’re interested to know more about your gut bacteria and health, please get in touch at: nutrition@choosetonic.com.
Author: Sarah Mockett BSc NMed mBANT, CNHC reg Nutritional Therapist and Certified Metabolic Balance® Coach.
