Delphine Schiltz, edited by Ophélie Artaud / Photo credit: Pixabay
As the holidays come to an end, we must resume the rhythm of the new school year. But shifting our sleep habits can have consequences for our health. According to a British study, going to bed and getting up earlier or later disrupts our gut microbiota, causing “social jet lag”. Europe 1 explains what it is and how to avoid inconvenience.
Returning to the office also means picking up your pace. No more sleeping in, the little nap after lunch or the endless dinners. This is very important, according to a British study recently published in The European Journal of Nutrition. Imperative even, since all it takes is a tiny shift in our habits to disrupt our intestinal microbiota, this is called social jet lag.
The intestinal flora, important for our general health
Shifting your night by just 1h30 between the week and the weekend would be enough to alter the intestinal flora, which is particularly important for our general health. This is what the researchers were able to observe in people who go to bed later and get up later on weekends. “You have differences on some intestinal bacteria which seem to be rather associated with bad functions or bacteria rather with pro-inflammatory power”, explains Benoît Chassin, research director at Inserm.
A result to qualify, however, because in the study, those who shift their sleep are generally younger, have a less healthy diet… Factors that can also disrupt the microbiota. “This study is very important, but we must now go further. If we want to make the link between social jet lag and alteration of the composition of the microbiota, and also to understand how these alterations can have a role in human health, there is still a lot of work to be done”, continues the researcher.
However, regular sleep is a determining factor for the health of our intestines. It would be ideal not to change the pace between weekdays and weekends.