Perhaps you’ve been told, “Your sleep issues are all in your head!”, and they very well may be…
But they may also be all in your gut.
That's because our gut is also our second brain. A cord called the Vagus Nerve runs from our gut to our brain and it's a two-way communication path. So it stands to reason that the state of our gut can impact the way that we deal with stress, our sleep, our hormone regulation, as well as our mood.
How the Gut-Brain Connection Affects Our Sleep Health
We're still learning about the gut-brain connection, even though we've known about it for eons. Just take a look at the common phrases we use:
“I have butterflies in my stomach.”
“I have a gut feeling…”
“That was gut-wrenching!”
It’s not a coincidence.
There are many conditions that can throw off the way our gut communicates with our brain (so many that I will cover them in separate blog posts…)
But today, I want to focus on one condition in particular:
Gut Dysbiosis
Gut Dysbiosis is basically a fancy name for an imbalance of your gut flora.
Our gut is home to a microbiome, a collection of trillions of little microbes that consist of good bacteria, bad bacteria, yeast, parasites, and viruses. In a healthy body, there is a delicate balance of all these little microbes — but unfortunately in today's modern society, we are susceptible to this balance being thrown off through a number of things like illness, medications, our diet (which often contains pesticides), stress, and even sleeplessness. A study out of the Biomedical Center at Uppsala University, Sweden showed that after only two sleepless nights, nine healthy males with no sleep issues saw a change in the amount of good bacteria in their gut.
The Three Main Ways That Gut Dysbiosis Interferes With Our Sleep:
1
Our gut is our second brain.
Our gut microbiome contains about 100million neurons. Our microbes communicate with these neurons, which then send signals to our brain through the vagus nerve. So, if our microbiome is off-balance, then our microbes are going to send bad signals to our neurons, which will influence the signals sent to our brain — the signals that regulate our mood, stress levels, and hormone production.
2
The gut produces the sleepy hormone: melatonin.
I’m sure you’ve heard of melatonin, the sleepy hormone, which helps us to fall asleep and stay asleep. Melatonin is what regulates our circadian rhythm. Our body produces melatonin when there's an absence of light. So if our gut is imbalanced, then it’s going to impact the gut’s ability to produce melatonin — and then we're going to have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep.
3
GABA
Lastly, the good microorganisms in our gut produce Gamma-Aminobutyric acid, aka GABA. GABA is a neurotransmitter that helps our body and our mind to relax, to fall asleep, and also stay asleep throughout the night. Research shows that insomniacs have 30% less GABA than individuals who sleep well. That’s a large percent and it’s indicative of our gut’s influence on sleep.
What You Can Do To Balance Your Gut to Help Your Sleep:
Now that we've established that your gut could be to blame for your sleepless nights, let's talk about some ways that we can get it back into tip-top shape so that you can get back to sleep.
1
Eat a diet that's full of organic fruits and vegetables.
I know it's expensive, so I would try to at least avoid what the Environmental Working Group has deemed as the "Dirty Dozen". These are fruits and vegetables that just soak in the pesticides. The EWG has an app that you can download so you’re always prepared to pick better food choices on the go.
2
Take a daily probiotic.
I recommend taking a daily probiotic that contains at least 1 billion microbes. A study conducted in Japan on students during exam week found that students who took a probiotic didn’t experience the negative effects on sleep that the students without a probiotic did. Rather, the students who took the probiotic:
Experienced less difficulty falling asleep under pre-exam stress
Maintained, and even strengthened, their deep, slow-wave sleep
Woke feeling more rested and refreshed than the placebo group
You can also incorporate naturally fermented foods that contain probiotics into your diet, such as sauerkraut, miso, and kombucha.
3
Fill your diet with prebiotics.
Lastly, if you're going to invest in your gut with probiotics, you need to make sure that you have prebiotics in your stomach. Prebiotics are basically food for the probiotics, and the best way to consume them is through your diet. Foods containing whole grains, bananas, asparagus, and onions, to name some, all contain prebiotics.
“I’m not sleeping — how do I know my gut is to blame?”
Taking good care of your gut is an easy way to make sure that you get the quality rest that you need to be your best. I'm always amazed with my private clients how, once we start working on their gut health, we see a positive impact on their sleep.
Each of my clients takes what is called a GI-Map Test where we're able to analyze exactly what's in their gut. That way, we know what type of supplements they should be taking, as well as what dietary changes they should make. If you're interested in getting a GI-Map run, I would visit your local functional medicine doctor, or give me a call — it's part of my Sleep Like A Boss package.
If you want to learn more, schedule a free 30-minute Discovery Call and let’s talk about it.
If you’d like more tips, you can read more articles on improving your sleep in my sleep blog. I have a ton of great resources.
Or if you're interested in working with someone one on one, I would love to help. You can schedule your free discovery call right here →
My mission is to help you get the rest you deserve to be your best.
Sweet Dreams…
Kelly Murray is a certified sleep coach and an award-winning pediatric sleep consultant based in Chicago offering sleep coaching services nationwide.