Curtailing sleep alters the abundance of bacterial gut species that have previously been linked to compromised human metabolic health, suggest results from a new clinical study conducted at Uppsala University.
The new article is published in the journal Molecular Metabolism. Changes in the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota have been associated with diseases such as obesity and type-2 diabetes in humans. These diseases have also been linked with chronic sleep loss. However, it is not known whether sleep loss alters the gut microbiota in humans.
Sleep Loss Partially Responsible for Elevated Risk Of Illness
The genes which participate in the regulation of cholesterol transport are less active in persons suffering from sleep loss than with those getting sufficient sleep.
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‘Alterations of the gut microbiota may mediate negative health consequences attributed to sleep loss, such as weight gain and insulin resistance.’
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With this in mind, Christian Benedict, associate professor of neuroscience, and Jonathan Cedernaes, M.D., Ph.D, both from Uppsala University, collaborated with researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke. In their study, the researchers sought to investigate in nine healthy normal-weight male participants whether restricting sleep to about four hours per night for two consecutive days as compared with conditions of normal sleep (about 8 hours of sleep opportunity) may alter the gut microbiota in humans.
"Overall we did not find evidence that suggests that the diversity of the gut microbiota was altered by sleep restriction. This was somewhat expected given the short-term nature of the intervention and the relatively small sample size. In more specific analyses of groups of bacteria, we did however observe microbiota changes that parallel some of the microbiota changes observed when for instance obese subjects have been compared with normal-weight subjects in other studies, such as an increased ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes. Longer and larger clinical sleep interventions will be needed to investigate to what extent alterations of the gut microbiota may mediate negative health consequences attributed to sleep loss, such as weight gain and insulin resistance," says senior author Jonathan Cedernaes.
![Weekend Sleep Catch-Up Can Reduce Diabetes Risk Associated With Sleep Loss]( "Weekend Sleep Catch-Up Can Reduce Diabetes Risk Associated With Sleep Loss")
Two consecutive nights of extended sleep appears to counteract the increased risk of diabetes associated with short-term sleep restriction during the work week.
"We also found that participants were over 20 percent less sensitive to the effects of the hormone insulin following sleep loss. Insulin is a pancreatic hormone needed to bring down blood glucose levels. This decreased insulin sensitivity was however unrelated to alterations in gut microbiota following sleep loss. This suggests that changes in microbiota may not, at least in the short-term, represent a central mechanism through which one or several nights of curtailed sleep reduce insulin sensitivity in humans," says first author Christian Benedict.
"The gut microbiota is very rich and its functional role far from completely characterized. Future studies will hopefully be able to ascertain how the composition and functional role of the gut microbiota is able to modulate at the individual level how sensitive we humans are to negative metabolic, but also cognitive, effects of sleep loss," concludes senior author Jonathan Cedernaes.
Source: Eurekalert
Weekend Sleep Catch-Up Can Reduce Diabetes Risk Associated With Sleep Loss
Two consecutive nights of extended sleep appears to counteract the increased risk of diabetes associated with short-term sleep restriction during the work week.
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"We also found that participants were over 20 percent less sensitive to the effects of the hormone insulin following sleep loss. Insulin is a pancreatic hormone needed to bring down blood glucose levels. This decreased insulin sensitivity was however unrelated to alterations in gut microbiota following sleep loss. This suggests that changes in microbiota may not, at least in the short-term, represent a central mechanism through which one or several nights of curtailed sleep reduce insulin sensitivity in humans," says first author Christian Benedict.
"The gut microbiota is very rich and its functional role far from completely characterized. Future studies will hopefully be able to ascertain how the composition and functional role of the gut microbiota is able to modulate at the individual level how sensitive we humans are to negative metabolic, but also cognitive, effects of sleep loss," concludes senior author Jonathan Cedernaes.
Source: Eurekalert
Even a Nights' Sleep Loss can Alter Genes and Increase Risk of Obesity, Diabetes
Sleep loss or extended wakefulness, as in shift work, could lead to changes in the genome of your tissues that can affect your metabolism for longer periods.
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 Study Explains Links Between Sleep Loss and DiabetesLack of sleep can elevate levels of free fatty acids in the blood, accompanied by temporary pre-diabetic conditions in healthy young men. | Advertisement
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