“There were notable differences in the species composition, diversity and relative abundance of gut flora between children who maintained an early bedtime and those who went to bed late,” wrote researchers from the Department of Child Rehabilitation at the Gansu Rehabilitation Center Hospital in China.
Some of the gut flora species’ differences were linked to better sleep through positive association with sleep duration. Others had negative associations with sleep quality.
“While prior investigations have primarily concentrated on observing children’s sleep patterns and implementing interventions to enhance these patterns, there exists a substantial research gap in examining children’s sleep from a physiological and metabolic viewpoint,” the researchers wrote.
“Given this, the objective of the current study was to examine the metabolic mechanisms associated with early bedtime and wakefulness in children, with special attention to the composition of their gut microbiota and metabolic pathways.”
Prior research has shown that children who go to bed early, and therefore wake up earlier, have a lower BMI and better performance at school for certain subjects.
Study details
Eighty-eight children between the ages of 2 and 14 were included in the study, half of which were boys and half girls.
Exactly half of the participants were in the early sleep group, and half were in the late sleep group. Children were considered late sleepers if they went to bed after 9:30 p.m.
A sleep diary was maintained by the parents for 14 days detailing when the children went to sleep, the number of times they woke up, how long they slept, the sleep efficiency, nap times, etc. Fecal and blood samples were also taken from all participants.
The time it takes to fall asleep was significantly different between groups, as well as frequency of waking and sleep efficiency. The early bedtime group took longer to fall asleep, woke more frequently during the night and had higher total sleep time.
Regarding gut flora, there were several differences noted between the groups. From the phylum level, there was greater abundance of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia in the early sleep group. At the genus level, several flora had higher abundance for early sleepers incuding Streptococcus, Eubacterium, Alistipes and Akkermansia. Species’ specific flora had higher abundance for the early sleeper group as well, some of which include: Akkermansia muciniphila, Holdemania filiformis and Alistipes finegoldii.
The study analyzed the connection between the species and the sleep diary metrics, reporting a positive correlation between the time to fall asleep and Akkermansia muciniphila and Alistipes finegoldii. There was a positive correlation with Alistipes finegoldii and total sleep duration but a negative correlation with sleep efficiency and frequency of dreams. Lastly, Alistipes finegoldii and Akkermansia muciniphila demonstrated a negative correlation, as did Alistipes finegoldii and Holdemania filiformis, in terms of sleep quality
Source: Scientific Reports (2024) 14:23256
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75006-y
“Characteristics of gut flora in children who go to bed early versus late”
Authors: Mao, C., et al.