Can our gut microbiota affect our circadian rhythm?
Can our gut microbiota affect our circadian rhythm?
The pattern of our sleep and wakefulness
All living things have circadian rhythms, which govern their sleep and waking cycles. These cycles instruct some animals to fall asleep as the sun sets, just as circadian rhythms instruct nighttime organisms to rise. They also impact the metabolism and other physiological processes including hunger.
Humans occasionally disobey their internal clocks so they can work night shifts, travel between time zones by plane, and remain up late for play or study. The price of this circadian rhythm management is that it makes people more susceptible to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer than those who don’t try to disrupt their natural sleep/wake cycles.
Researchers are trying to determine how circadian rhythms and disease are related. A startling connection, according to recent studies, may be made by gut microbes. The human digestive tract is inhabited by bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which are together referred to as the gut microbiota. The good bacteria, like those in Natren probiotics, aid in the body’s digestion as opposed to other bacteria that can lead to infection and illness. Additionally influencing allergies, mental health, weight, and metabolic issues are these beneficial microorganisms in the gut.
Gut health and sleep are related; a compromised digestive system can affect both the quantity and quality of sleep. A healthy gut can enhance intestinal health, which in turn can enhance sleep.
Circadian Rhythm dysfunction effects
Insufficient sleep has been linked in studies to workplace mistakes, auto accidents, and workplace injuries. Chronic disorders like high blood pressure, obesity, cancer, diabetes, and depression are more common in people with little sleep. Inadequate sleep can also lower productivity, lower quality of life, and increase death.
One of the most prevalent consequences of circadian rhythm disturbance is sleep difficulties. In a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, nearly 50% of respondents claimed that at least once per week, their daily activities were negatively impacted by getting too little or bad sleep.
Travelers and shift workers are particularly at risk for sleep issues. Sleep disruptions may result from changing to a new time zone or working a different schedule. Jet lag is a condition that happens when an individual’s biological clock and the environment are out of sync, and it is brought on by flying.
Circadian clock and Gut Microbes
A variety of bacteria in the human stomach can impact mood, immunity, and even metabolism. These bacteria have their own internal clock. According to one study, gut bacteria synchronize their biological clocks with those of their hosts. A different form of gut bacteria responds to variations in the host’s melatonin, which helps regulate sleep signals, according to a study that was only released in January 2016 and was just recently published.
The circadian rhythm of its host is likewise regulated by gut bacteria, according to research in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. This means that bacteria might either make your sleep better or worse.
A different study demonstrates a significant connection between constipation, sleep, and a certain gut microbe. The Bifidobacterium was measured since it is recognized to be beneficial intestinal bacteria for human health. Constipated persons had much less Bifidobacterium in their stool, the researchers discovered. Constipation affects sleep quality, therefore those with adequate Bifidobacterium sleep better.
Microbiology’s opportunity to solve the plastic waste problem
Microbiology’s opportunity to solve the plastic waste problem
After the publication of Blue Planet II, a David Attenborough-narrated television series that focuses on the effects of human activity on the marine environment, the public’s appetite for decreasing plastic trash has grown insatiable.
Delegates heard from Professor Kevin O’Connor, a renowned principal investigator at University College Dublin, during the Microbiology Society’s Annual Conference in 2018. He addressed ways to lessen plastic waste, consumer confusion, and potential for the future in his address, “Plastic trash: A worldwide problem and a chance for microbiology.”
The problem with plastic
Globally, plastic is employed in billions of products because of its adaptability, and by 2035, we’ll likely create more than 600 million tonnes of it. In Europe, the manufacture of plastics supports 1.5 million jobs, and by enabling the construction of more durable and lightweight automobiles and better-insulated homes, plastics significantly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gasses (GHGs).
The creation and burning of plastic, however, is responsible for about 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and single-use plastics are significant terrestrial and marine pollutants. The need for alternative materials or plastic management techniques is great. Why isn’t there an effective recycling system in place when many customers are already aware that plastics are recyclable? More regions have even lower recycling rates than Europe, where less than 30% of all plastic garbage is now collected for recycling. This can be a result of the lower product quality and inferior aesthetics of recycled plastics compared to virgin plastics.
The majority of marine debris is made of plastic. The majority of beach litter is made up of single-use items including straws, coffee cup lids, plastic bottles, and plastic bags. It can take up to a thousand years for PET plastic bottles and containers to decompose in the environment.
Microplastics are also a significant problem. Microplastics, which are defined as plastics with a length of fewer than 5 millimeters, can be created in a number of ways, such as through the degradation of larger waste, or they can be manufactured as micro-beads for use as exfoliants in cosmetic goods like cleansers and toothpaste. These tiny particles frequently bypass water filtration systems and end up in lakes and seas. Because they can be mistaken for food by smaller fish and eventually make their way into the food chain in the intestines of fish we eat, microplastics can cause significant harm to aquatic life.
If we can’t stop people from using plastics, society should attempt to cut back on their use. Is so much packaging really necessary? How may plastics be created to facilitate reusing them?
Combating plastic waste
Kevin and his crew started looking into the recycling of plastic waste made from petrochemicals in 1999. They employed pyrolysis, a technique for a thermal breakdown that breaks down petrochemical plastic polymers into their monomers or precursors. After that, Pseudomonas putida, a bacteria, was fed these monomers. The bacteria created polyhydroxyalkanoates, which are biodegradable plastic polymers, after digesting the petroplastic monomers (PHAs). PHAs have been demonstrated to perform as well as or better than petrochemical polymers used in items like glues, making them a viable alternative for usage in things like post-it notes. They also degrade in the environment without leaving behind any toxic byproducts.
Biodegradable polymers were another area of focus for Kevin’s team, along with how well they degraded in controlled and uncontrolled situations. These included composting in the industrial, residential, and maritime sectors, each of which has its own criteria for composting. varying from industrial procedures, where plastics must break down after 180 days at about 50°C, to marine processes, where plastics must break down after 56 days at 30°C.
It was discovered that the rate of deterioration of various plastics, even those belonging to the same polymer family, varies significantly depending on the environment. Polylactic acid (PLA), the biodegradable plastic with the fastest market growth in the consumer sector, does not break down at all in the 28°C conditions present in home composting. Similarly to this, many plastics don’t break down well in the ocean. However, with a properly-managed industrial composting technique, biodegradable.