Go to Bed! The Link Between Chronic Constipation & Sleep Deprivation


Most of us are familiar with operating our day to day lives without enough sleep. Prior to the lightbulb, people would sleep an average of about 10 hours, while these days many adults only sleep 4-5 hours a night, accumulating a sleep debt that can lead to multiple health effects like impaired memory, increased blood pressure, and chronic constipation. In this article, we’ll explore the link between chronic constipation and sleep loss.


Understanding Sleep Deprivation

There is a common misconception that if you don’t get much sleep during the weekdays, you can make up for it on the weekends. While you can make up some of your sleep debt with a few good nights of rest, if you persistently get too little sleep (5-6 hours) it will take longer for you to recover. One study in Science Translational Medicine followed adults with a reduced sleep schedule (about 5 and a half hours a night) over 3 weeks. They found that participants were more prone to accidents and errors and had slower reaction times than someone who was well rested. It can take many nights of normal sleep (sometimes up to 10 hours) to recover from this sort of chronic sleep deprivation. If you have some of the following symptoms, you might be sleep deprived:


  • You fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed – when well rested it should take 10-15 minutes to fall asleep

  • You feel the need to nap frequently or easily fall asleep when reading or watching TV

  • You feel tired immediately after eating a meal, particularly around lunchtime

    • The Connection of Sleep Deprivation and Chronic Constipation

    The key to sleep deprivation and chronic constipation lies in the beneficial bacteria in your stomach and your circadian rhythms. Your natural circadian rhythms are controlled by a part of your brain known commonly as the “biological clock”. When light enters your eyes in the morning, your clock sends signals to your pineal gland to stop producing melatonin (a hormone that makes you feel sleepy). At night, your clock increases the melatonin in your system.


    This increase in melatonin promotes the activity of your immune system – white blood cells that attack harmful flora in your intestines so that beneficial bacteria can thrive. When you suffer from sleep deprivation, each night your body loses more of the battle in your gut because your immune system isn’t at 100% – allowing harmful microbes to permeate your intestinal walls instead of the beneficial bacteria that provide relief from constipation. So sleep deprivation causes chronic constipation by preventing your body from maintaing a healthy balance in your intestines.


    While more sleep is one solution to this issue, another is to take a high quality probiotic supplement that rebalances your intestines and gives it the fuel it needs for healthy bowel movements. StayRegular is the only probiotic based natural laxative that provides 8 different species of probiotics all aimed towards preventing constipation. Chronic sleep deprivation is unhealthy in a variety of ways, but the right probiotic supplement can help mitigate the effects if you have to go without sleep for a period of time.