Sleep loss and the human gut microbiome: Preliminary investigation of a novel mechanistic link between shiftwork and metabolic disease

Obesity continues to impact on the health of the Western world. There is a growing need to identify, and subsequently manage, contributing factors if we are to reduce the health and economic burden on society. Shiftwork is a recognised contributor to metabolic disease, however it is still not clear exactly how shiftwork contributes to this disease state. Shiftworkers habitually self-report less sleep, and insufficient sleep is associated with a physiological stress response.