As we know, sleep is an important part of overall health. It not only influences energy levels, but it also helps every system in the body function properly, including the immune system, heart, brain and even digestive system. If you’re not sleeping well, it can take a toll on your gut health in a variety of ways. Here, we come with some tips which can help in making a good sleep routine and makes your sleep and gut relationship better.
Eat right
Firstly, don’t forget staying hydrated is important for healthy digestion, as dehydration alone can lead to constipation or slower motility through the gut and result in an uncomfortable and restless
night. Also include plenty of colour and diversity in your diet, with vegetables and fruits, as well as whole grains, nuts and seeds. These all provide brilliant sources of fibre and polyphenols (special plant chemicals), which are crucial ‘food’ for our gut microbiome.
The more varied our intake of these, the more we can support a healthier and stronger gut and harness a better gut-sleep relationship. An imbalance in our gut bacteria can lead to stress and anxiety, which over time can affect our memory, mood, immune system, and sleep. Research shows that taking a probiotic can also support and nourish the gutbrain connection and have a favourable impact on our sleep. It has been clinically proven to lower inflammation in the gut and contains live bacteria to help relieve the symptoms of damage to the body caused by long term stress.
Slow down
It’s also important to embrace rest and allow your body time to digest, which means taking time over meals to chew your food thoroughly. This can help to alleviate some of the most common gut symptoms such as indigestion, excessive gas and bloating. Daily mindfulness, such as meditation, gentle yoga or breathing exercises are vital to help support the gut-brain connection, which is incredibly powerful and bi-directional. It is the cumulative effects that have the biggest impact.
Move your body
Not doing enough exercise and sitting for long periods can also have a negative impact on the way we sleep and our gut health. We don’t necessarily need to be working out to the point of exhaustion, but regular movement helps us feel physically tired and therefore supports sleep. It’s best to avoid high intensity exercise late into the evening, which can spike cortisol, but walking in natural light first thing in the morning is great as it can help to support your circadian rhythm.
Time it well
Some people feel anxious if they have too many commitments at once. These may involve family, work, and health-related activities. Having a plan in place for the next necessary action can help to keep this anxiety at bay. Effective time management strategies can help people to focus on one task at a time. Book-based planners and online calendars can help, as can resisting the urge to multitask. Some people find that breaking major projects down into manageable steps can help them to accomplish those tasks with less stress.
Stress less
Stress and sleep are closely linked. It can adversely affect sleep quality and duration, while insufficient sleep can increase stress levels. Both stress and a lack of sleep can lead to lasting physical and mental health problems. A key element of the gut-sleep connection to consider is the influence of our gut microbiome on our mood and emotional wellbeing. This includes the relationship between sleep and mood disorders – such as stress, anxiety and depression – as poor sleep can often trigger these symptoms.
Mindful breathing or meditation practices can support the gut-brain connection and help us to manage the stressors in our life that might be contributing to a restless night sleep. We can’t always change some of these stressful factors, but we can cultivate a mindset that is better equipped to deal with them. Journaling just before bed can be a really useful tool to help prevent our thoughts from going round in our heads. Remember blue light exposure messes with our melatonin levels and affects the flow of our sleep-wake cycle, so put a curfew on all digital devices around one hour before you want to go to sleep and shut them down. Even better, try to take them out of the bedroom altogether.
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