Gut Health

Can’t Sleep? Here’s The Surprising Reason Why

Does it take forever for you to fall asleep? Or do you nod off pretty quickly but then wake up in the middle of the night and get stuck awake until morning?

Spending hours tossing and turning… waking up cranky and tired…  or and almost never feeling refreshed in the morning – These are all telltale signs that you’re battling it out with insomnia. 

And while even a few sleepless nights can have you feeling desperate for a solution, it’s likely you’re already clued into the knowledge that sleeping pills – and their dozens of dangerous side effects – can often make you feel even worse than another restless night.

Stress, too much caffeine, blue light – These common wrongdoers are typically targeted when you can’t seem to catch any zzzz’s… However, the true root cause of your sleep issues may be much different than you think. 

But before we reveal the culprit behind the curtain, let’s have a deeper look at the impact of insufficient sleep.

Poor Sleep Affects Your Whole Health

If you’ve ever gone without a good night’s sleep, you know how awful that makes you feel the next day. Even the occasional off night under the covers can make you irritable, anxious, foggy, or nauseous. 

But go without good sleep for more than a night or two, and the health detriment quickly escalates. Ongoing insomnia has been linked with:

Doubly as shocking: Researchers who analysed 25 years’ worth of sleep data found what they described as an “unequivocal” link between insufficient sleep and premature death. 

Of course, none of this is terrifically helpful to focus on when it’s 3am and you’re counting sheep between gritted teeth for the umpteenth time… So let’s look at what you can actually DO.

Surprisingly, your best bet for a great night's rest may start with focusing less on your head and paying more attention to your gut.

sleep, gut health

The Surprising Reason You Can’t Sleep

Here’s a fact hot off the press from the latest sleep research that catches many people off guard: Sleep starts in your gut. More specifically, it begins with your gut bacteria. 

Your gut microbiome contains trillions of bacteria, some of which are beneficial probiotics and some of which are harmful pathogens. In a healthy gut (known as a gut that’s “in balance”), a wide variety of diverse probiotics will vastly outnumber the pathogens. And, it’s these colonies of helpful probiotics that hold the key to a great night of sleep. 

That’s because probiotics produce the chemicals your body needs for sleep, including:

  • GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid): the brain chemical that helps your brain and body relax enough to fall asleep
  • Melatonin:  the sleep hormone that manages your body’s sleep function
  • Serotonin: the “feel-good” brain chemical that allows you to sleep more soundly 

Your body relies on probiotic gut bacteria to create these essential sleep building blocks. But when your gut microbiome falls out of balance and pathogenic bacteria take over, they limit production of those sleep compounds. Plus, those pathogens actively produce compounds that interfere with sleep. 

And scientists have now discovered just how close the link between gut imbalances and insomnia really is.

Insomnia Shows Up in Your Poop (Really!)

This falls right in the realm of weird science: Researchers can tell if you have insomnia by looking at your poop.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

The gut microbiomes of insomnia patients compared with healthy controls were characterized by lower microbial richness and diversity… Gut microbiota may serve as an important indicator for auxiliary diagnosis of insomnia and provide possible new therapeutic targets in the field of sleep disorders.

In layman's terms: An unbalanced gut, one where pathogenic bacteria dominate, makes it harder for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. It’s connected with poor quality sleep and makes insomnia symptoms more severe.

Here’s why that’s great news: To get good rest, rather than relying on unhealthy methods to knock yourself out, you can instead focus on getting your gut microbiome in balance to naturally ramp up production of your important sleep chemicals…

How to Keep Your Gut in Healthy Balance

A lot of things can knock your gut microbiome out of balance:

  • Stress
  • Sugar
  • Antibiotics
  • Processed foods

And once pathogens take the majority, they’ll fight hard to keep it. That’s when your gut microbiome will need extra support in the form of spore probiotics and targeted PREbiotics.

Clinically proven spore probiotics make it to your gut 100% alive and ready to get to work. Once there, they quickly produce chemicals that allow other beneficial probiotic bacteria to grow and flourish. They help keep pathogens under control, while also supporting your healthy production of crucial sleep compounds… along with dozens of other health benefits.

PREbiotics supply the preferred food of probiotic bacteria. Prebiotics are special forms of indigestible fiber that nourish and encourage a diverse, healthy population of probiotics. This is great if you’re looking to ratchet up your gut health support, however… 

It’s worth noting that not all prebiotics are created equal. In fact, most brands on the market are incapable of distinguishing between your good and bad bacteria.  This can be a huge problem. After all, if you’re looking to starve out the pathogens to help your probiotics prosper, the last thing you want is to feed the bad guys. That’s why it’s crucial to choose a prebiotic that is intelligently designed to fuel ONLY the beneficial microbes.

Realize A Well-Rested You With Just Thrive 

A healthy gut microbiome supports restful sleep… and you can encourage your widest, most well-rested smile with Just Thrive Probiotic and Just Thrive Precision PREbiotic

Just Thrive Probiotic contains four clinically studied spore probiotics that work together to help a diverse population of beneficial bacteria flourish in your gut microbiome. 

Just Thrive Precision PREbiotic preferentially nourishes the probiotic bacteria in your gut microbiome, encouraging them to grow and thrive. 

Set the stage for a good night’s sleep by adding Just Thrive Probiotic and Just Thrive Precision PREbiotic to your daily routine.  

Try Just Thrive Probiotic and Precision PREbiotic today and save up to 25% off

probiotic, prebiotic