2023-06-10 17:00:00
Just like the quantity, the quality of sleep varies according to the person, the period of life, the environment… but also the intestines! Indeed, in a new study published in the journal Cell, researchers explain one of the biological mechanisms that distinguishes people who have very deep sleep from those who have very light. According to them, it is the presence of CCHa1, a protein synthesized by both brain and intestinal cells, which makes all the difference… And its presence is directly linked to food.
Light sleep without CCHa1
During their work, the scientists worked on small flies called fruit flies. They first knocked out CCHa1 from their brain and gut. But they soon discovered that its elimination in the gut was enough to impact sleep.
Thus, in a second step, they blocked the expression of CCHa1 at the intestinal level in certain flies while, in others, they on the contrary multiplied it. Then they tested the quality of their sleep by subjecting them to vibrations when they slept.
Results: the first ones –without CCHa1- had a very light sleep, which means that they woke up with simple vibrations, while the others had a deeper sleep: strong vibrations were needed to wake them up.
Protein stimulates the production of CCHa1
CCHa1 is therefore the key to sleeping well and, good news, we can promote its production through food… by eating proteins. Indeed, the researchers observed that dietary protein increased the levels of CCHa1 in the gut of flies and made them less sensitive to vibrations while they slept. In other words, the production of CCHa1 is boosted by protein intake and sleep is thus deeper. On the other hand, sugar or fat, which the scientists also tested, had no impact.
But how does CCHa1, present in the intestines, influence sleep? The protein communicates with dopaminergic neurons in the brain that modulate responsiveness to vibrations. It is for this reason that the flies were awakened by the vibrations, but continued to sleep when subjected to temperature variations by the scientists.
In the future, the team intends to continue its research in order to perhaps discover other proteins involved in other awakenings: temperature variation, sounds, etc. They will also work to find out whether these results, observed in flies, could be transposed to humans.
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#intestine #responsible #quality #nights