Abstract
It is well known that intestinal motility has circadian rhythms as well as sleep-wake cycles and muramyl peptides affect sleep as the sleep-inducing substance. It is possible that bowel habits influence sleep health. The aim of this study is to epidemiologically investigate the relationship between bowel habits including functional constipation (FC) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and sleep health. Young adult women living in the Tokyo metropolitan area were examined using the selfreported questionnaire. Subjects with FC or IBS were selected by Rome II. The score estimating the degree of parasomnia-like problems in FC and IBS was higher than in control. Weekday sleepiness in FC and IBS was also higher than in control. Weekday sleeping time in IBS was significantly shortened. The number of having breakfast, time cue of biological rhythms, was extremely decreased in FC. Irregularity of sleep onset time, sleeping time and sleep habits, which are related to biological rhythms, in FC and IBS were higher than in control. This study suggests that sleep health in FC and IBS is impaired compared with control and bowel habits may be related to sleep health. Bowel habits seem to be worthy of notice as a risk factor for sleep disorders.
