The mechanisms of sleep remain somewhat of a mystery. We do know, however, that sleep is the key to growth, development, and the process of removing toxins from our brains.
Yet good sleep doesn't come easily to everyone. For a variety of reasons, falling and staying asleep night after night can be difficult for some adults and children.
Moms can also expose babies to pathogens or an imbalance of good-to-bad bugs. Babies might also have microbiome deficiencies. Two common causes of deficiencies are cesarean delivery and early antibiotic exposure.
"The most significant associations between sleep habits, gut microbiota, and behavioral outcomes were found at 3 months of age, potentially identifying an early sensitive period for later functionality of sleep rhythm and gut microbial balance," the authors wrote, noting that helping renormalize gut microbes or sleep patterns could help prevent developmental delays and disorders.
Those who went to bed before 9:30 p.m. had significant differences in gut bacteria species, including more diverse and beneficial microbes that have been correlated with health. One such bacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila), had an indirect role in helping the body remove damaged cells and improve cognition.
Our autonomic nervous system keeps our bodies humming even during sleep, regulating bodily processes like heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion. Autonomic nervous system disorders can be caused by bacteria, viruses, medications, underlying diseases, and genetics.
The autonomic nervous system has two components: the sympathetic division, which prepares the body to face stressful emergencies, and the parasympathetic division, which restores homeostasis with a resting heart rate and slower breathing. Our nervous system should mainly operate in the parasympathetic.
"It makes total sense to me," Nikogosian said of the sleep-gut link. He added that a child or adult with better parasympathetic tone would have "calmer, more focused, more restful sleep."
"The first sign was sleep issues. She was never able to nap more than 30 minutes," Sew Hoy told The Epoch Times. "She was also very colicky, cried a lot, and then at six months when she started eating solids, she got eczema."
Common in infants, eczema often appears as dry, bumpy, itchy patches of skin and can be linked to allergies. Sew Hoy's daughter went on to have a sesame allergy and eventually developed gluten and dairy intolerance.
She thought these issues were likely connected to her daughter's gut microbiome. When Sew Hoy found out her baby was in a breech position and might need to be delivered by cesarean-section (C-section), she spent hours studying the impact it might have.
However, it was a few years before Sew Hoy discovered she could test her daughter's stool to see what microbes she was missing. Restoring those improved her allergies.
An award-winning entrepreneur, Sew Hoy went on to launch Tiny Health, a business aimed at boosting a child's microbial health in the first 1,000 days. The company offers gut and vaginal microbiome testing, which can assure women are passing along the right microbes to their babies, along with coaching to correct any imbalances in moms and children.
Often, sleep isn't the only problem kids are facing. Many of her young patients have been diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or mood disorders.
"Into adulthood they continue to have trouble with sleep disturbances of all sorts," she said.