MOST of count down the days till each weekend, when we snooze a bit longer and catch up on lost sleep.
But new research has shown that even a 90-minute weekend lie-in produces gut bacteria that's linked to heart attacks, strokes and obesity.
A study conducted by King’s College London and personalised nutrition company ZOE found that sleeping and waking up later when you're off work can mess up your diet quality and habits, and increase inflammation.
According to researchers, people who hit snooze on weekends ate less healthily, guzzled more sugary drinks and added fewer fruit and nuts to their diet.
They estimated that these poor dietary habits had an effect on people's gut microbiomes.
Late-sleepers were also found to have higher markers of inflammation – a sign of poorer health – compared to those with consistent sleeping patterns.
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Previous work has shown that shift workers have worse health, with a higher risk of weight gain, heart issues and diabetes due to body clock disruptions.
But this new study of 934 people – published in The European Journal of Nutrition – found that even small changes to sleep patterns can take their toll. All it took was a 90 minute difference between weekday and weekend sleep schedules.
The ZOE and KCL team assessed blood, poo and gut microbiome samples and took glucose measurements in people whose sleep was irregular compared to those with a routine sleep schedule.
Most participants were lean and healthy and tended to get more than seven hours of sleep nightly.
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According to the researchers, the composition of the microbes in your gut may negatively or positively affect your health by producing toxins or beneficial metabolites.
Specific species of microbes can correspond to an individual’s risk of long-term health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
Researchers identified 17 bacterial species in people's guts, where levels varied depending on whether participants had consistent or inconsistent sleep patterns.
Nine were more common in those with “social jet lag” – late weekend sleepers.
Of these, three were linked to obesity, poor cardiometabolic health and higher levels of inflammation and risk.
Senior author Dr Wendy Hall from King’s College London said: “We know that major disruptions in sleep, such as shift work, can have a profound impact on your health.
"This is the first study to show that even small differences in sleep timings across the week seems to be linked to differences in gut bacterial species.
"Some of these associations were linked to dietary differences but our data also indicates that other, as yet unknown, factors may be involved.
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"We need intervention trials to find out whether improving sleep time consistency can lead to beneficial changes in the gut microbiome and related health outcomes.”
Dr Sarah Berry from King’s College London and chief scientist at ZOE added: “Maintaining regular sleep patterns, so when we go to bed and when we wake each day, is an easily adjustable lifestyle behaviour we can all do, that may impact your health via your gut microbiome for the better.”
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