No changes in gut microbiota after two-week sleep extension in chronically sleep-deprived individuals

Appraising the role of biotics and fermented foods in gut microbiota modulation and sleep regulation

Sleep disturbances are increasingly prevalent, significantly impacting physical and mental health. Recent research reveals a bidirectional relationship between gut microbiota and sleep, mediated through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. This review examines the role of gut microbiota in sleep physiology and explores how biotics, including probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, and fermented foods, can enhance sleep quality. Drawing from animal and human studies, we discuss neurobiological mechanisms by which biotics may influence sleep, including modulation of neurotransmitters, immune responses, and hormonal regulation. Key microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids, are highlighted for their role in supporting sleep-related neurochemical processes. Additionally, this review presents dietary strategies and food processing technologies, like fermentation, as innovative approaches for sleep enhancement. Although promising, the available research has limitations, including small sample sizes, variability in biotic strains and dosages, and reliance on subjective sleep assessments. This review underscores the need for standardized protocols, objective assessments such as polysomnography, and personalized biotic interventions. Emerging findings highlight the therapeutic potential of gut microbiota modulation for sleep improvement, though further large-scale human trials are essential to refine strain selection, dosage, and formulation. This interdisciplinary exploration seeks to advance food-based interventions and holistic strategies for managing sleep disorders and improving quality of life.

Sleep Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Disease

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that short sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of cardio-metabolic health outcomes including cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Experimental sleep restriction studies have sought to explain these findings. This review describes the main evidence of these associations and possible mechanisms explaining them. Whether sleep extension reverses these now widely acknowledged adverse health effects and the feasibility of implementing such strategies on a public health level is discussed.

Short sleep time has a greater impact on the gut microbiota of female

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE

Short sleep duration (SSD) affects people's health in multiple ways. This study attempted to explore the effect of SSD on the gut microbiota.

METHODS

In the American Gut Project Database, 361 individuals (without troubled by disease recently) with less than 6 h of sleep per day were obtained and matched with normal sleep time individuals according to gender, age, and BMI. Furthermore, the raw data of 16s rRNA in feces were downloaded and analyzed using QIIME2, and STAMP was used for data statistics. PICRUST2 was used for predicting the alteration of microbial function.

RESULTS

The SSD did not affect the microbial α-diversity. SSD increased the abundance of the phylum Verrucomicrobia and the families Rikenellaceae, Verrucomicrobiaceae, and S24-7, and decrased the Coriobacteriaceae. Moreover, PICRUST2 predicted that SSD affected 15 metabolic pathways. Subgroup analyses showed that SSD had more significant effects on the microbiota in normal-weight females.

CONCLUSION

SSD substantially modifies the abundance of specific gut microbiota taxa, exerting a pronounced influence particularly on females, highlighting the need for further investigation into the bidirectional relationship between sleep patterns and gut microbiota.

Gut microbiome and metabolic pathways linked to sleep quality

Sleep quality is a vital determinant of human health as sleep disorders are associated with cognitive deficits, and chronic sleep deprivation is associated with a broad range of health complications. Previous studies on the association between the gut microbiome and sleep quality have been constrained by small sample sizes or have focused on specific sleep disorders, thus yielding inconsistent results. Herein, we investigated the relationship between microbial composition and sleep quality in a cohort of 159 Koreans. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), determined through a self-administered questionnaire. Gut microbiome analyses were performed using 16S rRNA amplicons. We found no direct correlation between microbial alpha diversity metrics and sleep; however, we identified differences in beta diversity among sleep quality groups (with a PSQI score > 5 indicating poor sleep quality and PSQI ≤5 indicating good sleep quality). We also found differential microbial signatures (Bacteroides, Prevotella 9, and Faecalibacterium) among the groups. Furthermore, functional metabolic pathway profiles revealed significant linear correlations of the L-arginine and L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathways as well as 4-aminobutanoate degradation with sleep status. In particular, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which harbors these metabolic pathways, showed differences between sleep quality groups and a linear association with sleep quality scores and was thus identified as the species most strongly associated with sleep status. This study provides a significant advance in our understanding of the relationship between gut microbiota and sleep regulation. The current findings provide a basis for further research into potential therapeutic strategies for sleep disorders targeting the gut microbiome.

Sleep Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Disease

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that short sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of cardio-metabolic health outcomes including cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Experimental sleep restriction studies have sought to explain these findings. This review describes the main evidence of these associations and possible mechanisms explaining them. Whether sleep extension reverses these now widely acknowledged adverse health effects and the feasibility of implementing such strategies on a public health level is discussed.

Gut microbiome changes due to sleep disruption in older and younger individuals: a case for sarcopenia?

Major hallmarks of functional loss, loss of metabolic and musculoskeletal health and (multi)morbidity with aging are associated with sleep disturbances. With poor sleep shifts in gut microbial composition commonly manifest, which could mediate the pro-inflammatory state between sleep disturbances and sarcopenia. This systematic review presents the recent evidence on how sleep disturbances throughout the lifespan associate with and contribute to gut microbial composition changes, proposing a mechanism to understand the etiology of sarcopenia through sleep disturbances. The relationship between disturbed sleep and clinically relevant gut microbiota composition on health aspects of aging is discussed. A search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science using keywords including (microbio* OR microflora) AND (sleep OR sleep disorder). Six cross-sectional population-based studies and five experimental clinical trials investigating healthy individuals with ages ranging from 4 to 71 were included. The cross-sectional studies reported similarities in associations with sleep disturbance and gut microbial diversity. In older adults, shorter sleep duration is associated with an increase in pro-inflammatory bacteria whereas increasing sleep quality is positively associated with an increase of beneficial Verrucomicrobia and Lentisphaerae phyla. In young adults, the effect of sleep disruption on gut microbiome composition, specifically the ratio of beneficial Firmicutes over Bacteroidetes phyla, remains contradictory and unclear. The findings of this review warrant further research in the modulation of the gut microbiome linking poor sleep with muscle-catabolic consequences throughout the lifespan.

The Component and Functional Pathways of Gut Microbiota Are Altered in Populations with Poor Sleep Quality - A Preliminary Report

With the development of genome sequencing, many researchers have investigated the mechanism by which the intestinal microbiota influences sleep across the brain-gut axis. However, the relationship between gut microbiota and sleep disorder remains unclear. Thus, we studied the difference in gut microbiota composition between poor sleep quality- and normal populations, which helps set the ground for future research. The recruited college students provided baseline information and stool samples and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We compared the two groups’ gut microbiota composition and functional differentiation by using the 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The main bacterial difference and the most critical effect were mainly concentrated within Tenericutes and Elusimicrobia. Compared with the healthy control group, some functions of the gut microbiota were impaired in the poor sleep quality group, such as butanoate metabolism and propanoate metabolism. Bacterial taxa with significant differences raised the possibility for future diagnosis and treatment of sleep problems.

Sleep Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Disease

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that short sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of cardio-metabolic health outcomes including cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Experimental sleep restriction studies have sought to explain these findings. This review describes the main evidence of these associations and possible mechanisms explaining them. Whether sleep extension reverses these now widely acknowledged adverse health effects and the feasibility of implementing such strategies on a public health level is discussed.

Feasibility of sleep extension and its effect on cardiometabolic parameters in free-living settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies

AIMS

Inadequate sleep is a global health issue and has been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. As a part of sleep hygiene, intentional lengthening of night-time sleep duration (i.e. sleep extension) might be a behavioural intervention to improve cardiometabolic health. To examine the feasibility of sleep extension and its effects on cardiometabolic parameters in free-living settings.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019146174). Five databases were searched. Only experimental studies conducted in adults without a diagnosis of sleep disorder were included. The pooled mean difference was calculated by the inverse variance method. Narrative summaries were also used. Thirteen studies from 11 trials were included. The intervention ranged from 3 days to 6 weeks. Sleep extension increased total sleep time by 51 min [95% confidence interval (CI) 39-63]. Overall, sleep extension did not result in significant changes in blood pressure. However, sub-group analysis revealed that when 24 h mean blood pressure was obtained among those with pre-hypertension or Stage 1 hypertension, sleep extension reduced systolic (weighted mean difference = -7.8 mm/Hg; 95% CI -10.6 to -4.9), and diastolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference = -4.2 mm/Hg; 95% CI -6.7 to -1.8). The pooled effects on fasting glucose and insulin resistance were not significant. The effect of sleep extension on other parameters (e.g. heart rate) was not consistent.

CONCLUSION

Sleep extension is feasible and could increase sleep in free-living settings. Sleep extension shows promise for reducing 24 h mean blood pressure among those with pre-hypertension or hypertension. More large-scale studies are needed to examine its long-term effects.

Sleep and Circadian Disruption and the Gut Microbiome-Possible Links to Dysregulated Metabolism

Insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment are associated with adverse metabolic health outcomes. Alterations in gut microbial diversity occur with insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment, which can lead to modifications in microbial structure and function. Changes in microbially produced and modified metabolites such as short chain fatty acids and secondary bile acids may contribute to chronic inflammation, positive energy balance and endocrine changes, and represent potential mechanisms linking insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment with metabolic dysregulation. Literature primarily from the last two years is reviewed here, examining the impact of sleep and circadian rhythms and their disruption on the gut microbiome in human and non-human models, with an emphasis on the hypothesis that the altered gut microbiome may be one pathway by which insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment dysregulate metabolism.

Sleep disorders related to nutrition and digestive diseases: a neglected clinical condition

Sleep disturbances often result from inappropriate lifestyles, incorrect dietary habits, and/or digestive diseases. This clinical condition, however, has not been sufficiently explored in this area. Several studies have linked the circadian timing system to the physiology of metabolism control mechanisms, energy balance regulation, and nutrition. Sleep disturbances supposedly trigger digestive disorders or conversely represent specific clinical manifestation of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Poor sleep may worsen the symptoms of GI disorders, affecting the quality of life. Conversely, short sleep may influence dietary choices, as well as meal timing, and the circadian system drives temporal changes in metabolic patterns. Emerging evidence suggests that patients with inappropriate dietary habits and chronic digestive disorders often sleep less and show lower sleep efficiency, compared with healthy individuals. Sleep disturbances may thus represent a primary symptom of digestive diseases. Further controlled trials are needed to fully understand the relationship between sleep disturbances, dietary habits, and GI disorders. It may be also anticipated that the evaluation of sleep quality may prove useful to drive positive interventions and improve the quality of life in a proportion of patients. This review summarizes data linking sleep disorders with diet and a series of disease including gastro-esophageal reflux disease, peptic disease, functional gastrointestinal disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, gut microbiota alterations, liver and pancreatic diseases, and obesity. The evidence supporting the complex interplay between sleep dysfunction, nutrition, and digestive diseases is discussed.

The gut microbiome as a target for adjuvant therapy in obstructive sleep apnea

Introduction: Gut dysbiosis is assumed to play a role in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)-associated morbidities. Pre- and probiotics, short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and fecal matter transplantation (FMT) may offer potential as novel therapeutic strategies that target this gut dysbiosis. As more mechanisms of OSA-induced dysbiosis are being elucidated, these novel approaches are being tested in preclinical and clinical development. Areas covered: We examined the evidence linking OSA to gut dysbiosis and discuss the effects of pre- and probiotics on associated cardiometabolic, neurobehavioral and gastrointestinal disorders. The therapeutic potential of SCFA and FMT are also discussed. We reviewed the National Center for Biotechnology Information database, including PubMed and PubMed Central between 2000 - 2020. Expert opinion: To date, there are no clinical trials and only limited evidence from animal studies describing the beneficial effects of pre- and probiotic supplementation on OSA-mediated dysbiosis. Thus, more work is necessary to assess whether prebiotics, probiotics and SCFA are promising future novel strategies for targeting OSA-mediated dysbiosis.