How to make your office microbiome-friendly: part 1

Whether you’re working from home, in a cubicle, or anywhere in between, the workspace you spend so many of your waking hours in makes an outsized impact on your health. 

Our microbiome is constantly interacting with the environments we are surrounded by. There are lots of ways to use your work space to help support a healthy microbiome. Today we focus on: natural lighting. 

Just like us, our gut microbes have little circadian rhythms of their own. Unlike us, they can’t see the sun, so they depend on us to keep time. They respond to our daily rhythms, which are regulated most strongly by daylight. 

A healthy gut microbiome changes its composition, its activities, and the types and amounts of metabolites it makes throughout the day. A recent study in mice showed that the relative abundance of Bacteroides, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria varied rhythmically over a 24 hours period, and the total biomass of all gut bacteria were higher during the night, when mice are most active.

Our microbiome’s circadian activity influences our circadian rhythm back—meaning it’s a two-way street. Research shows that DCA and CDCA, (two molecules made by gut bacteria) alter our clock genes, especially in the colon and liver. Regulating our exposure to light and therefore, our circadian rhythm, then, is vitally important— not just to us, but to the microbes that call us home. 

Early morning light is the most important circadian exposure we can get. If you work at home, setting your office up on the east side of your house (or even using your laptop in an east-facing window before moving to your regular spot) is a good idea. If you drive to work in the dark, and then start work in a space without windows, take a short walk outside around 10:00am to jump-start your circadian response to light. 

If you’re lucky to have a window in your workspace but don’t like the view, or don’t like people looking in at you, consider a sheer white curtain or window cling instead of light-blocking blinds. This allows you to benefit from the daylight without sacrificing privacy. 

Lastly, as the workday winds down, it’s important to reduce exposure to artificial blue light. If you work somewhere with overhead fluorescents, which have a significant amount of stimulating blue light in them, consider turning them off and using a small desk lamp with a warm bulb. You can also consider changing the tone of your computer screen to a more yellow hue to support natural melatonin release, which will give our gut bacteria the clue it’s time for them to wind down their activities, too!

All research from PMID: 28862076