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How Poor Sleep Impairs Gut Function (And What To Do About It)
16 Plays3 months ago
Ready to resolve your constipation, gas, bloating, and other digestive problems for good? Watch my free Gut Recovery Masterclass to learn more about how I help women in your situation: https://gutrecoverymethod.com/register
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Hosted by functional health practitioner and longevity author, Christian Yordanov, this podcast is dedicated to helping women struggling with gastrointestinal problems such as gas, bloating, constipation, and other digestive distress.
Whether you have a diagnosis such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), IBD (inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis), SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or not, you will benefit from the insights we'll share.
Join us as we explore the intricate connections between gut health and overall well-being, addressing common issues like fatigue, poor sleep, hormonal imbalances, and anxiety.
Learn how stress impacts your digestive system and discover effective strategies to reduce inflammation, improve digestion, and enhance your quality of life.
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Transcript
Introduction and Importance of Sleep for Gut Health
00:00:43
chrisyzen
Welcome back to the show, Christian Jordonov here. Today I'm going to talk to you a little bit about how sleep can affect the gut, right? And it's pretty intuitive, I think, to people that if you if you don't sleep well, you're going to have health issues, right? At least over time, if it's chronic.
Consequences of Poor Sleep on Gut Health
00:01:00
chrisyzen
And when it comes to the gut, there's actually a number of mechanisms that they have elucidated where poor sleep or disrupted sleep can actually be detrimental to the gut. And then that sort of gut dysbiosis that can occur can then contribute to a ah number of other health issues. So sleep is a major part of the gut recovery method, right? So we really dial in sleep in terms of how to eat, to support sleep, supplementation that can support sleep and reduce stress so that you sleep better because obviously stress cortisol is going to interfere with sleep.
00:01:38
chrisyzen
um And then, of course, dialing in the environment, right? It's so important to to, I mean, so many of us, we are getting blasted with blue lights from our phones and our TVs before bed. That's, you know, no wonder people are not sleeping well. If all this blue light is bathing us um prior to sleep, we eat you know, we have actually photo receptors on our skin. So even it's not even optimal to wear blue blocking glasses, which we do at home.
00:02:07
chrisyzen
I even have baby blue blocking glasses for kids that I bought when my wife was pregnant that I have not given to my daughter because she's three years old and she's gonna break them in like on the first day or scratch the bejesus out of them but I it's important and before bed we We turn off the regular lights, not not before bed, but like at least an hour before bed. We turn off the regular sort of LED lights and we have red LEDs in all the big rooms, in the major rooms and hallways, so that we have less this um red light is a lot less disruptive to our circadian rhythm.
00:02:43
chrisyzen
so little things like that in terms of environment obviously making the the room is making sure the room is cool that um there's there's no plugged in devices nearby your head that can actually for some people with yeah emf a bit more emf sensitivity that can be detrimental to sleep um the darkness levels and of course just having a little bit of let less stimulatory activities before bed obviously watching ah an action movie that's gonna raise your adrenaline not exactly the best thing but let's get into a couple of the mechanisms of why poor sleep actually can contribute to gut problems now
Sleep Patterns and Gut Microbiota
00:03:26
chrisyzen
This is all, and all of this is like intertwined, it's like this massive vicious cycle, vicious sort of cycle that can, a lot of the things can can contribute to each other and cause each other, like if you have a gut problem, you might not sleep well. But if you don't sleep well, it can contribute to your gut problems, right? Because it's, the research has shown that both sleep deprivation and irregular sleep patterns can alter the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota that can contribute to inflammation, dysbiosis and that that can then contribute to like bloating gas and constipation or irregular bowel movement. And we know that so we know that
00:04:12
chrisyzen
Poor sleep will increase cortisol, the stress hormone. Now, as I've covered in a previous episode, cord is chronically high levels of cortisol can disrupt the normal functioning of the digestive system. right It can contribute to increased intestinal permeability.
00:04:32
chrisyzen
that's been well correlated, that poor sleep have been linked to increased leaky gut or intestinal permeability. And of course, the stress the stress of not not sleeping, the increased cortisol levels, the the altered gut microbiota, this already is the milieu where you know you're you're going to have gut dysbiosis.
00:04:53
chrisyzen
And on top of that, that in um ah folks with poor sleep, elevations in inflammatory markers like interleukins, C-reactive protein have been found. So there's a lot of, a lot more systemic inflammation when you don't sleep. And it could be because during sleep, so the body's dealing with some of that, right? So you're kind of in more like a parasympathetic healing mode, repair mode.
00:05:18
chrisyzen
And then if you disrupt that or it's a shorter period of time, you don't get all that extra time that you otherwise would have spent resting and using that energy towards healing
Impact on Autonomic Nervous System
00:05:27
chrisyzen
and regeneration. So this is a big issue. If you're sleeping like six hours a day, a night, really, you you probably want to try to increase that to to at least eight because especially when you're trying to heal your body, restore your health from a health issue, the the more you can be in this relaxed parasympathetic state,
00:05:48
chrisyzen
the better off you will be because the more energy is devoted to rest and digest and repair and regeneration. If you sleep two hours less at night, that's that's two hours potentially that you're awake and stressing and you know working and running around and job kids whatever else and um That takes away from healing right because you you you are now the body's making trade-offs in this instance the other thing is that Poor sleep can affect the autonomic nervous system and that controls gut motility So in some folks it can accelerate the transit time through the gastrointestinal tract But it can also slow it down
00:06:32
chrisyzen
So it can contribute to both constipation and diarrhea, right? um So you see, there's a lot of different mechanisms through which sleep can contribute to gut problems.
The Gut Recovery Method Approach
00:06:47
chrisyzen
And we really have to, this is why in in the gut recovery method, we have such a comprehensive program that covers sleep, but also stress, because stress can contribute to poor sleep, and then poor sleep contributes so to more stress, and that can contribute to slower slower heating time, or more health issues in the long term. It can contribute to poor hormone balance.
00:07:13
chrisyzen
that you might make worse choices in terms of diet. or You might not have the willpower needed to do certain things that will help you in the long term. So there's a lot of different moving parts as part of the program that we dial in step by step and systematically.
00:07:28
chrisyzen
you know if you leave one of these out you can see how this like a chain reaction of things that can occur that will disrupt the ah the the the functioning of the other aspects the other pillars right ah just again that the example is just ah not dialing the stress piece is such a huge one because then it can contribute to poor sleep, poor food choices, then you might not want to do some, some that you might not want to take your supplements or then you might want to have a drink in the evening and that can contribute to leaky gut and so on and so forth and so forth. So this is why
00:08:02
chrisyzen
This is the best thing out there in terms of healing a person self-heating their gut and resolving their other health issues because We cover every aspect that is super important hormone balance diet supplementation and and I like to sometimes tell my clients that my approach to stress is aggressive we have to be very aggressive in terms of our stress reduction because there's so many stressors out there in the world right now that we really need to we can't just rely on just a good diet
00:08:38
chrisyzen
it's it's only like Most people's diet is not even that good to begin with. So you can't just rely on good diet, then maybe you do some breathing exercises in the evening and some meditation and expect them to sleep well and then to for your hormones to be balanced and then ah nutrient deficiencies to resolve themselves which occur over time when you know a person has health issues. We really have to be very aggressive about these things and I don't mean it like in a bad way, aggressive in terms of like, I would rather ah take two, three things that will help me reduce stress and sleep better and improve hormone balance all at the same time than expect it just to magically resolve itself. like there's i don't I don't believe in ah this sort of magical child thinking that if you just eat like ah if we just eat it like our ancestors, then everything will be fine because we're we're not living in the world of our ancestors.
00:09:34
chrisyzen
We have plastics all around us and ah fumes from car exhausts all around us and formaldehyde and flame retardants in our car seats and our couches and our beds and stuff. So we're we're not in that world and we have EMFs and the food um the food supply has deteriorated. So unless we go above and beyond How can we expect to restore our health and then achieve optimal health? right You cannot do the bare minimum in the current world, unfortunately. this what A lot of my clients, they understand
Dietary Habits and Supplements for Sleep Quality
00:10:09
chrisyzen
that. In fact, I have had clients
00:10:12
chrisyzen
where they're actually taking more supplements than I do per day. I had clients that take more than 25 supplements per day. And of course, I take them off a bunch of them and be like, look, do you even know why you're taking this stuff? And they're like, no, I don't. I don't even know. I'm just kind of using the shotgun approach. And I i just like to say, look, don't don't waste your money on these things anymore. Here's the exact things you need right now.
00:10:35
chrisyzen
and it's a much more targeted approach but the way the way we supplement and the way we kind of eat is to um address blood sugar regulation which can cause poor sleep problems if your blood sugar drops you will wake up because your your body is telling you get up and go find food right so that means your cortisol and your adrenaline and are gonna rise so we eat and supplement in a way that we make sure the blood sugar is balanced as much as possible throughout the night
00:11:10
chrisyzen
um The stress hormones are kept low, right? um Estrogen, serotonin, cortisol, adrenaline, right? There's different ways to to kind of mitigate those ones, negative effects on the body, which can then cause the stress that can wake us up and contribute to poor sleep and then increase stress, ah kind of living in the more of the stress response, which we want to live in that state as little as possible. This was designed to be like seconds at a time, minutes at a time.
00:11:40
chrisyzen
that we would tap into the stress response. And now a lot of us are living like this all day long for most of our adult life. And then we wonder why we have so many health problems and it's so hard to reverse them. So yeah, we have to really, we have to use really targeted ah targeted approach and it works beautifully. You know, some sometimes people tell me just with the dietary changes, they're like, oh my God, I feel so much better.
00:12:06
chrisyzen
I'm so less stressed and I'm sleeping better and i haven't even the the supplements haven't even arrived, right? So that's what can happen because a lot of people ja Not that they they don't know how to eat, but a lot of people just have been misled into um eating in a way that is very un-conducive to good health and good blood sugar balance and keeping stress hormones low and supporting healing and making sure that they are in a virus and parasympathetic, um rest and digest healing state, at least when they're asleep, right?
00:12:41
chrisyzen
um So yeah, that's it's an important issue and again Nobody is going to Come and you know, make sure you go to bed at 10 p.m. Or 9 p.m. Or whatever. Nobody's gonna you know, we're all adults here We are the ones that decide what is a priority for us. It's not about time It's not about time There's a lot of very busy and successful people out there that have the same 24 hours a day that we do. And somehow they manage to eat well cooked, you know ah clean, well prepared meals at home. ah They get you know nine, 10 hours in bed. And hopefully most of that is of being asleep. They take their supplements two, three times a day as directed by their practitioner or health culture, whatever.
00:13:33
chrisyzen
And they managed to do a lot of that and to live a healthy, happy life,
Small Lifestyle Changes for Health Improvement
00:13:37
chrisyzen
right? Because they've prioritized certain things, right? So a lot of people, and i'm not I'm not judging or anything, but a lot of people, if you look at how much time they spend on Netflix and their phone every day and every week,
00:13:50
chrisyzen
that not I'm not saying that they shouldn't do that or anything, but it takes it takes a minute to take a couple of supplements with your meal. Or while you're watching Netflix, just go to the you know to your supplement ah to your whatever kitchen cupboard, whatever where your supplements are, take 2-3 things an hour or so before bed that will help you.
00:14:12
chrisyzen
have more so deeper sleep right it takes a minute to go to the bedroom get your blue blockers put them on it takes five minutes to go to Amazon and order some red LED lights and maybe some fixtures for them so that at 10 p.m. or let's say an hour an hour to before bed You can turn off the regular blasting super bright red lights or blue lights and then you have red lights which are softer you know and will be less disruptive to your um to your circadian rhythm. So little things like that.
00:14:48
chrisyzen
That take like a minute here a second there maybe a few minutes to kind of set it up to purchase it to buy it to to install it Things like that. This is where We create a winning sort of environment conducive to good health and longevity and healing of course It takes it's not this gargantuan task that you just have to climb a mountain in a day It's what you do on a daily basis. Oh today. I'm just gonna you know, get get myself some blue blockers Okay, 50 bucks, really well spent. If you don't have small kids and no one is gonna break them, like my kid, I had to super glue my pair twice at least already and I have a spare one just in case because this pair is on its last legs. um But these things last, you know, these LED lights, they last like tens of thousands of hours and they're four or five dollars or whatever. You get a few of them, five or six for the bathroom, the living room, the bedroom, and you're sorted. You know, the light light fixture is 10 bucks or whatever.
00:15:48
chrisyzen
and it's so so these little small little investments that this week you do that the next week you do something else and this is how we all get started right it's not like when i started doing the scale stuff back in like 2018 it's not like i did it all in a day you know one day One day I bought a shower filter because why shower in chlorinated water? Every single day that you're also breathing when it hits the floor um why you know um ah ah Started turning off the the Wi-Fi a router at night Why have extra EMS that we can prevent from having it or start putting on my phone on airplane mode when I was in my pocket so each week if you do one thing and
00:16:33
chrisyzen
Imagine, now even after 10 weeks, you've not done you've implemented 10 things that are improving ah your life, that are allowing you to have a better home environment or maybe better diet or whatever else, right? Whatever else that is contributing to your health and longevity as opposed to taking away from it.
00:16:53
chrisyzen
or disrupting it or adding to your stress bucket, which for many people is close to full if not overflowing. right So the idea is to each week, what can I take out of the stress bucket rather than what can I add into it? right So that's kind of the the mentality that I teach my clients and it it really in in weeks, in a couple of months, people are already like they're, oh my God, this is not even hard. Yeah, of course it's not hard because you're gonna, when the evening comes, you're gonna turn your light on in your in your living room anyway, right? So what's flicking one switch an hour before bed? Okay, that's the regular light. We can kill that. Here's a red light, boom. What's taking the blue blockers, putting them on an hour before sleep? you know, simple little things like that. but And you do 10 of these, you add 10 of these, 20 of these over the course of a couple of months into your life, and you're like, you're living
Creating a Health-Conducive Environment
00:17:55
chrisyzen
a life that is much more conducive to longevity and health and healing again right it's so simple it's so easy um it's just people they look at like sometimes ah someone will come to our house and they see me like i have a massive pile of supplements in the kitchen ah there's maybe 30, 40 different products here but they are not, they're not, I'm not taking them every single day, right? Some of them are daily staples, a few maybe five, six, seven and then the others are for very specific purposes, you know? If my kid gets sniffly, if my wife is not feeling well or if she needs sleep support, right? If I know tomorrow is a big day and I have to sleep for sure, right? So I have
00:18:42
chrisyzen
uh um tools in the toolbox for every kind of scenario you can think of energy production detoxification whatever it is but i'm not like every day i'm not like swallowing like 10 supplements with every meal and stuff like that you know so someone comes into our house and they look at all the stuff we're doing we had the red red light therapy lamps and um kind of all these kind of things and like oh my god this is too much work and it's it's overwhelming yeah it's overwhelming if you try to do it in a day but it's not overwhelming if you do one thing every week you know and that time will will pass anyway and at the end of it like three four months down the line you and you now have the habits because after two three months you have the habit and it's just as easy to continue
00:19:31
chrisyzen
the habit after you've created. So but for example, some people have the habit of ordering takeout. um But you know the with the takeout, you got to open the app and you have to um you know get pick it up from the guy and give him the the tip and then throw the boxes out. So you're still doing stuff. Whereas instead of going to like Uber Eats or whatever it is, you can go to like another app where they do groceries that they deliver, director though direct your door organic.
00:20:02
chrisyzen
and you can order some groceries and they will arrive in a couple of days and you have your freezer stocked with the foods conducive to health and you have you don't even have to leave your house especially in the USA to have these super health supporting foods delivered to your door and then it's just a matter of okay it will take 10 minutes to you know prepare a very simple dish that that food is organic it's conducive to health and healing and in longevity and it's once you've built that habit it's it's just as easy to maintain it as the other previous habits you know so i think some sometimes people get in their own way in terms of
00:20:45
chrisyzen
Their own healing and they think it's it's you must be like some kind of superhuman or something like that but look at it this way a hundred and fifty years ago almost nobody was chronically ill like today where most people are or have some health problem or on one or more medications.
Addressing Modern Stressors and Toxins
00:21:04
chrisyzen
um So back in the day, people didn't have to expand a lot of effort to stay healthy and thin and and all that stuff. Why? It's because they were eating foods that were more natural and they you know they weren't exposed to the level of toxins and stresses today.
00:21:22
chrisyzen
So, what's the what's the solution? Well, the solution is to eat the right foods for healing and and um longevity and to deal with the toxins and the stressors in an aggressive manner, right? So, you have to meet them where they're at. If there's a lot of stress and a lot of toxins, you have to meet them with an equally sort of strong push back.
00:21:45
chrisyzen
Right, so that's why I say aggressive stress reduction is integral to my pro to my program and the way at least at least my way is I I Supplement so if my cortisol is always high I don't wait for it to go down if you know what I mean I I use supplementation to add the molecular level right at the receptor level at the cellular level to reduce cortisol like that is that is how we roll and and it's so easy and it's so effective and that's why almost every night I sleep like a baby and if I get stressed I know how to how to reduce that stress and that is why that is how you maintain your health and how you
00:22:29
chrisyzen
Create the right environment for your health to return if it's not gone the right direction over the past few Years or a couple of decades or even one decade, right?
Conclusion and Takeaways
00:22:40
chrisyzen
So anyway, I think that was all I wanted to cover today I did get a little bit ranty near the end I hope at least you got some insights out of it and thanks for listening and I'll see you on the next episode