The Gut Microbiome and Its Relationship to Sleep and Mental
Health.
In recent
years research concerning the gut microbiome and its effects on the brain has
become more prevalent. Sleep is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle
and is usually the first to be neglected in a stressed environment; a couple of
factors can help increase sleep quality.
The gut
microbiome has been heavily implied to impact sleep (Smith et al., 2019). In a
research study in which gut microbiome composition was obtained and compared to
sleep physiology factors (i.e., neurobehavioral assessment, immune system
biomarkers), there was a positive correlation between these two factors (Smith et
al., 2019). This suggests that sleep can be modulated by manipulating the gut
microbiome. This is further supported by the study of Bowers et al. (2022), in which
they managed to improve sleep in rats by administering a GOS/PDX (galactooligosaccharides/polydextrose)
diet for four weeks. What was observed is the increase in REM and non-REM sleep
regardless of sleep disruption that was being caused compared to the control group.
This impact can be considered on a different scale, meaning that mental health independently modulates sleep. Mental health can also benefit from the manipulation
of the gut microbiome.
The article
“Depression in sleep disturbance: A review on a bidirectional relationship,
mechanisms, and treatment” identified an association between mental illness and
sleep (Fang et al., 2019). Sleep disturbance is said not to be a result of
depression but an independent factor in developing depression. In another
article by Clapp et al. (2017), a link between the gut microbiome and mental
illnesses has also been found. These connections lead to the belief that
treatment for mental illness (i.e., depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s) can be
managed not only by medication but by manipulating the gut microbiome.
Work Cite
Bowers, S. J.,
Summa, K. C., Thompson, R. S., González, A., Vargas, F., Walker, C., Jiang, P.,
Lowry, C. A., Dorrestein, P. C., Knight, R., Wright, K. P., Fleshner, M.,
Turek, F. W., & Vitaterna, M. H. (2022a). A Prebiotic Diet Alters the Fecal
Microbiome and Improves Sleep in Response to Sleep Disruption in Rats. Frontiers
in Neuroscience, 16(889211). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.889211
Clapp, M.,
Aurora, N., Herrera, L., Bhatia, M., Wilen, E., & Wakefield, S. (2017). Gut
microbiota’s effect on mental health: the gut-brain axis. Clinics and
Practice, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.4081/cp.2017.987
Clement-Carbonell,
V., Portilla-Tamarit, I., Rubio-Aparicio, M., & Madrid-Valero, J. J.
(2021). Sleep Quality, Mental and Physical Health: A Differential Relationship.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2),
460. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020460
Fang, H., Tu, S.,
Sheng, J., & Shao, A. (2019). Depression in sleep disturbance: A review on
a bidirectional relationship, mechanisms, and treatment. Journal of Cellular
and Molecular Medicine, 23(4), 2324–2332.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcmm.14170
Smith, R. P.,
Easson, C., Lyle, S. M., Kapoor, R., Donnelly, C. P., Davidson, E. J., Parikh,
E., Lopez, J. V., & Tartar, J. L. (2019). Gut microbiome diversity is
associated with sleep physiology in humans. PLoS ONE, 14(10).
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222394
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