Since intestinal motility has circadian rhythms as well as sleep-wake cycles, it is possible that there are some relationships between functions of the gastrointestinal tract, especially intestinal motility, and sleep health. However, little is known about the relationships between intestinal motility and sleep health. Therefore, the relationships among functional constipation (FC), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sleep health in the population of middle aged women living in the Tokyo metropolitan area were investigated using the self-reported questionnaire. FC and IBS were defined by the Rome diagnostic criteria for the functional gastrointestinal disorders (Rome II). As a result, both the sleep health in FC and in IBS were significantly worse than in control, and there was a tendency for the sleep health in IBS to be worse compared with that in FC. Accordingly, these results suggest that there are relationships between conditions of intestinal motility, namely bowel habits, and sleep health. In order to improve sleep disturbance coming into question in recent years, the consideration of bowel habits also seems to be important.
