The effects of intermittent fasting on the microbiome of the digestive tract have received little attention.

When you consider how quickly changes in nutrition may impact the microbiome, it is not hard to see how fasting could have a comparable impact.

Begin with the sleep-wake cycle because it is the most familiar form of fasting. Most people eat multiple meals throughout the day, typically beginning with breakfast and finishing with supper or a late-night snack.

It is recommended that they then sleep for eight hours, during which time they will have unintentionally fasted. In this state, the gut microbiota can recover from its hard work of digesting food and creating vital molecules.

Evidence suggests that our gut microbiomes and circadian rhythms are interconnected. The bacteria in our bodies affect our regular sleep schedule and vice versa. Consequently, sleep deprivation has an effect on the microorganisms in the digestive tract.

The population and variety of the gut microbiome rely on the brief fasting phase known as sleep. This knowledge will be useful in laying the groundwork for a future argument that prolonged fasting may be more helpful than the normal fasting that occurs while we sleep.

Sources - news-medical.net

Photo Credit - https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.120.318155