Better Sleep, Better Digestion
It might seem surprising but one of the best things that you can do for your digestion is focusing on your sleep. Some of the most powerful digestive work happens long after the meal is finished and you are fast asleep.
This is the time your body is repairing tissues, balancing hormones, and calming inflammation, and nowhere does this show up more than in your gut.
When you’re in a deep sleep, your nervous system moves into parasympathetic mode — the “rest and digest” state. This state is where your body finally feels safe enough to sleep, heal, rebuild, and restore balance. Think of it like your internal healing and cleanup crew that quietly works while you're sleeping.
When sleep is short, broken up, or shallow, this process can’t be completed. This is when you might notice your digestion is a bit more sluggish, you are feeling more bloating, or having sugar cravings the next day. That’s one of your body’s ways of saying it’s running on low repair time.
During the time that we are getting some good deep rest, some key things happen like:
Your gut lining rebuilds itself.
Inflammation calms.
The liver detoxifies efficiently.
Your microbiome restores balance.
Motility resets.
Just to name a few things!
How your gut tells time .
Your gut has its own biological clock that syncs with your sleep-wake cycle. When that rhythm is consistent, digestion runs smoothly. When it’s not, things start to feel off track.
Have you ever noticed when you're travelling or you wake up at a different time and all of a sudden your bathroom routine changes, or your digestion feels off without changing your diet? This is a part of it.
Here are some of the ways poor sleep can affect your body.
1. Hormone Imbalance
Sleep helps to regulate key hormones involved in appetite and metabolism — ghrelin (which signals hunger) and leptin (which signals fullness). When we experience a lack of sleep, ghrelin increases and decreases leptin. This can lead to stronger cravings and overeating, often of sugary or starchy foods.
2. Cortisol and Stress response
When you’re overtired, your cortisol (the stress hormone) levels rise. When we experience chronic elevated stress hormones this slows down digestion and weakens the gut lining. This can create the perfect environment for bloating, constipation, gas and other discomfort.
3. Disrupting the Microbiome
Even a few nights of poor sleep can alter the balance of your gut bacteria. Studies show that sleep deprivation reduces microbial diversity and increases the microbial populations linked to metabolic dysfunction and inflammation.
4. Gut-Brain Feedback Loop
Your gut and brain are in constant communication through the vagus nerve. When you’re well-rested, communication moves more freely, helping to calm digestion and emotional stability. When you’re exhausted or wired, this communication can be halted, and your gut responds with discomfort, cramps, or irregular bowel movements.
On the flip side of that though, when we are able to have good sleep, our body is able to repair and regulate. In your gut this means :
Improved motility: Your digestive muscles coordinate better when your circadian rhythm is balanced.
Stronger gut barrier: Rest increases melatonin, which supports mucosal healing and reduces permeability.
Reduced inflammation: Deep sleep lowers inflammatory cytokines that irritate the gut lining.
Enhanced detoxification: Your liver clears metabolic waste most efficiently while you sleep.
Simple ways to support sleep & digestion
1. Finish Eating Earlier
Try to give yourself at least 2–3 hours between your last meal and bedtime. When you go to bed on a full stomach or after a heavy meal, digestion competes with your body’s ability to rest, and this can leave you restless, contributing to a broken up sleep along with bloating and gas. To feel like you are fully satiated after meals, make sure you are having enough carbs, fat, fibre and protein in each meal. This will help cut down on late night snacking if you fall into this category.
2. Focused Herbal Teas
Add in herbs like chamomile, lemon balm, passionflower, valerian, and lavender calm the nervous system and relax digestive tension. Sipping on a tea after dinner or before bed can help relax the body. If you are someone who deals with a ruminating mind an herb like skullcap can help to quiet it and allow you to rest back. If you feel like you need more digestive support after dinner than nervous system support, herbs like fennel or ginger are great additions
3. Being mindful of your Light Exposure
Morning sunlight helps your circadian rhythm and improves melatonin release at night. It is great to step outside for 5 minutes in the morning if you can, but if not, even just looking out your window (bonus points if you open it) can also help this process.
After sunset, try to dim your lights and reduce screen time. Blue light (from phones and other screens) tells your brain it’s still daytime, delaying the natural sleep cycle and keeping us up longer than we need to be.
4. Having a Wind-Down Ritual
You’ve heard this time and time again because your body loves routine. Your nervous system loves consistency. When we have a wind down routine it helps signal to the body that we are getting ready for sleep. This could be anything from a few stretches, writing for 5 minutes, reading, having a warm shower and getting into cozy clothes. The key is to tailor this to you and what you will actually do.
5. Supporting Your Adrenals
Chronic stress and fatigue deplete your adrenal reserves, when this happens it can make our sleep shallow, and light and our digestion taxed and sluggish. A way to help our body when we are in states of chronic stress is to feed our adrenals. Foods high in vitamin c such as peppers, dark leafy greens, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, berries, lemons and grapefruits (just to name a few) help to nourish the adrenal glands along with other grounding foods like sweet potatoes, oats, sea salt, mushrooms, and mineral-rich broths.
So tonight, rather than one more scroll or getting one more to-do thing done, pour your tea, dim the lights, and give your gut the gift it’s been asking for all, a good nights sleep.
As the days shorten and the world begins to slow, our bodies crave the same - warmth, rhythm, and rest. It’s no coincidence that this season invites longer evenings and earlier bedtimes. Nature is reminding us that rest is nourishment.
So this season, let slowing down be your medicine.
Sleep as an act of nourishment.
Rest as a way to digest life.
