It Turns Out ‘Poop Pills’ Could Help Us Sleep Better

You’ve probably heard that your gut health may affect more than just your stomach. Some researchers think it might be linked to everything from our mood to our energy levels.

And according to research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, “poop pills” might one day make insomnia more manageable.

The paper, which covered a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, found that among adults with chronic sleeplessness, the addition helped to improve “objective sleep continuity and sustained subjective insomnia outcomes”.

In this study, participants were given faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) capsules.

This is one way to transfer bacteria, usually derived from stool samples, from a donor’s gut to their recipient’s. FMT can also occur through colonoscopy.

The bacteria comes from faecal samples, which are thoroughly tested before being frozen and prepared for use.

Half of the study’s participants took antibiotics, which wipe out some of our body’s own bacteria, for two days before swallowing the tablets.

Two weeks later, they took a smaller booster dose.

The FMT pills contained gut bacteria from people who had been shown to be great sleepers.

The idea was to see whether the healthy bacteria from good sleepers’ guts would help to transform poor sleepers’ routines.

Only half of the participants took FMT pills. The other half were given placebos.

Compared to their gut-altered peers, those who didn’t take FMT capsules saw next to no sleep changes after the trial.

But those who had saw their sleep efficiency leap from 79% to 93% in a month.

Meanwhile, the group who’d taken the pills spent far less time awake than they had in the beginning – 17 minutes vs the original 79.

The placebo group actually got more sleep disturbances (37 to 42 minutes).

Researchers say that more studies are needed to explore the apparent link.