Study reveals key contributor to insomnia
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A new study has revealed that gut health is a direct contributor to insomnia.
For the study, published in the medical journal General Psychiatry, researchers explored the link between sleep — or lack of it — and the presence of certain types of bacteria in the digestive system.
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Per the U.K. Daily Mail, study lead Shangyun Shi, from Nanjing Medical University in China, concluded that there appears to be a direct link between gut bacteria and the risk of insomnia.
Shi used the data from 386,533 people with insomnia. That data was compared with data taken from two studies into microbiomes totally 26,548 people who had 71 groups of bacteria in common.
She concluded that certain bacteria types seem to boost or lower the risk of insomnia. Additionally, the sleep disorder itself also seems to alter the presence of certain types of bacteria.
The analysis showed a total of 14 groups of bacteria were positively associated (1% to 4% higher odds) and eight groups negatively associated (1% to 3% lower odds) with insomnia.
Insomnia was also noted to have an effect on gut microbiome.
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It was linked to a reduction of 43% to 79% of seven groups of bacteria, and a more than four-fold increase in the abundance of 12 other groups.
Shi said her study further cemented the link between “the effects of insomnia on gut microbiota, and vice versa,” adding that they have a complex two-way relationship.
Shi noted that the study was not without limitations which needed further exploration.
All the study participants were of European descent.
The make-up of the microbiome varies among different ethnicities and geographies.
Additionally, lifestyle factors such as diet and lifestyle were not accounted for.
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