How does a pizza movie night affect your gut health?

We all deserve a treat. However, too many late nights in front of screens eating unhealthy foods can wreak havoc on your gut health. There are ways to make your chill out time healthy as you’ll find in this article.

Screens are part and parcel of our daily lives. There is increasing awareness that exposure to light after dark, particularly blue light emitted from screens, can disrupt our internal body clock. A common misconception is that this only impacts our sleep. In fact, our body clock is intrinsically connected with other bodily functions including our gut’s function, determining when we’re hungry, and when we go to the toilet. Although the gut’s clock ticks away separately to your overall body clock, there is constant two-way communication between them. As the gut’s clock ticks, there are changes in the types and populations of gut bacteria present. When your body clock is disrupted, for example by blue light screens at night, this can lead to imbalances in the bacterial types present causing digestive issues, problems with nutrient absorption, and inflammation.

We all know a “Western diet” is bad. Foods which characterise a Western diet include high-fat and low-fibre foods which are ultra-processed and hyperpalatable. These foods cause rapid spikes in blood sugar and have depleted nutrient contents. These aren’t just your typical fast food candidates though. Often, foods are labelled as “healthy” because they contain no added sugar or are low fat, but they maintain the other bad characteristics. Sugary cereals, white bread, and packaged snacks are prime examples. Taken alone, a Western diet increases the growth of detrimental gut bacteria and decreases overall gut microbial diversity. These effects increase the susceptibility to metabolic disorders, such as obesity, and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. 

What happens if you disrupt the body clock at the same time as eating a western diet? Although obesity is caused in both instances, a western diet plus body clock disruption causes a greater shift in the gut microbiota. When combined, there is growth of a greater number of bad gut bacteria and a more pronounced expression of “bad” genes. Taken together, a western diet and body clock disruption interact to mean the effects are worse than the sum of their parts. 

How can I have a gut-healthy movie night?

You can still enjoy a movie night while looking after your gut health. Firstly, even if you don’t go to bed on time, try to wake up at your usual time which will minimise your body clock’s disruption. You could also wear blue light glasses and apply a filter on your screen so your body does not receive the “daylight” signals from blue light. Instead of ordering pizza, why not impress your friends with your sourdough making skills? Or ask them whether they’d like to try one of your fermented foods such as sauerkraut or kimchi? All these are great options for your gut health and you’ll have some impressed (and educated) friends too.