Poop transplants could help insomniacs sleep better

Don’t sleep on taking some crap.“Poop pills” have been an innovative way to potentially treat various ailments, from preventing peanut allergies to advanced cancer and liver disease.Now, struggling insomniacs may find relief with a “crapsule” before bedtime, according to new research from China.Insomnia often stems from a combination of factors, such as stress, daily habits, sleep schedule, health issues and more.Emerging research has found another culprit, indicating the gut microbiome may play an important role in how well we sleep.A poop transplant — otherwise known as a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) — improved chronic insomnia in several adults, according to a small study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.Recruiting 80 adults with long-term insomnia, half of the participants were first given two days of antibiotics to clear out existing gut bacteria.They then received 60 FMT capsules containing gut bacteria isolated from fecal samples of healthy donors who were deemed good sleepers, with a booster dose of 20 capsules two weeks later.Researchers used an overnight sleep assessment called a polysomnography that records brain waves, eye movements, heart rate, oxygen levels and breathing patterns to determine how well participants slept.Sleep efficiency — the percentage of time spent asleep while in bed — of the group taking the “crapsules” increased from 79% before the transplant to 93% after one month of treatment.Meanwhile, the other half who took placebo pills experienced barely any increase in sleep efficiency, shifting from around 85% to only 87%.The treated group also woke up less throughout the night, a key sign of insomnia, with time spent awake after falling asleep dropping from 79 to 17 minutes.The placebo group’s sleep-wake time actually increased from 37 to 42 minutes.The group treated with a fecal transplant continued to self-report improved sleep even up to six months after treatment.While the findings are promi...