
Before I qualified as a nutritionist, during my studies I worked in various retail and hospitality roles like many students.
Initially it was retail then I realised how handy pub work was.
I could work at night and either study or socialise during the day.
Because my best friends also worked in the pub, this also ticked off another thing on the to-do list.
After graduation, I knew I wanted to be a freelance nutritionist so I decided to keep up the pub work while building my nutritionist business on the side.
Working in the pub by night, researching and building on the nutrition biz by day.
Oh to have the energy of a 22 year old again!
My routine changed a lot, I’d often go from night shifts to day shifts and vice versa.
Late nights were common and coffee soon became my best friend.
I was always a morning person up until I began working in pubs, which quickly turned me into a night owl!
Despite being out of pub work for about four years now, I’ve remained a bit of a night owl.
Maybe it’s due to some evening work I do or maybe it’s habit.
It got me thinking about the role of sleep on our wellbeing, particularly our gut health..
Sleep really is the basis of everything, isn’t it?
When we’ve had a poor night sleep it knocks every aspect of our lives.
You might notice you’re more hungry or craving sugar as your body tries to make up the deficit.
You might notice your performance is off, either in work or in sport.
You might be more emotionally erratic
And your gut health will likely also be off.
But why?
There are many ways our gut health may be impacted by our sleep
And being aware of this can help us to support ourselves:
- Altered eating habits:
When we’ve slept poorly, we tend to crave more energy dense, highly palatable foods.
The reason for this is that these foods give you that energy boost that you need and are lacking from poor sleep.
Similarly, sweet foods give you a hit of sugar for a quick burst of energy you might need too.
These foods tend to be lower in fibre and higher in fat and volume, which can be a lot for your gut to handle, especially if you have a sensitive gut.

2. Increased cortisol levels:
Poor sleep is stressful! When you’ve not slept enough, your body is on high alert and trying to get you through the day. Poor sleep increases levels of circulating cortisol, your stress hormone.
Cortisol also inhibits normal digestive function, which can contribute to loose stools, bloating, constipation, reflux and/or pain.
Cortisol is a hot topic at the moment despite it being necessary for many functions such as getting you up in the morning or getting you out of a stressful situation.
Like many things, the devil is in the dose!
You may be more likely to rely on caffeine to get through the day which can often trigger gut symptoms.

- Altered gut microbiome:
The gut microbiome is an ecosystem of beneficial microorganisms that live within our gut. They are involved with many functions such as supporting our immune system, digestion of food, reduction of cholesterol and our mental health. Learn more here.
We all have a circadian rhythm, which is like our body clock and is very sensitive to our sleep and wake cycle.
Your gut microbiome also has a circadian rhythm and sleep is a time when the gut microbiome is regenerated and restored.
Poor sleep can result in alterations to the gut microbiome, which can result in poorer digestion and gut symptoms.
An example of this is if you have ever had a flare up when jet lagged or travelling..

I’m on a mission to come back to my old self and find my way back to being a morning person.
And I know some changes need to be made in order to achieve this.
Creating a bedtime routine with be key, in order for my body to wind down and be ready for the early start.
Hello yoga is that you?
Limiting screen time before bed will be a good idea too.
For August this is a key goal of mine and I wondered if you might like to join me?
This month, I’ll be running a free five day challenge around improving sleep.
Each day you’ll receive a task to help you improve your sleep
While also having the support and accountability of the other participants in our WhatsApp group.
To really drive you on, there will also be a prize for the most active participant!
We start on 12th August and you can join us here.
Happy Sleeping all!