Irregular sleep patterns linked to harmful gut bacteria

New research has found irregular sleep patterns are associated with harmful bacteria in your gut. The study by researchers from King's College London and ZOE, the personalised nutrition company, is the first to find multiple associations between social jet lag – the shift in your internal body clock when your sleeping patterns change between workdays and free days - and diet quality, diet habits, inflammation and gut microbiome composition in a single cohort.

In a cohort of 934 people from the ZOE PREDICT study, researchers assessed blood, stool and gut microbiome samples as well as glucose measurements in those whose sleep was irregular compared to those who had a routine sleep schedule. Researchers found that just a 90-minute difference in the timing of the midpoint of sleep – the halfway point between sleep time and wake-up time - is associated with differences in gut microbiome composition.

Having social jet lag was associated with lower overall diet quality, higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, and lower intakes of fruits and nuts, which may directly influence the abundance of specific microbiota in your gut.

Three out of the six microbiota species more abundant in the social jet lag group have ‘unfavourable’ associations with health. These microbes are associated with poor diet quality, indicators of obesity and cardiometabolic health, and markers in your blood related to higher levels of inflammation and cardiovascular risk.

Reference: European Journal of Nutrition, DOI 10.1007/s00394-023-03204-x