Probiotics improved sleep quality scores in insomnia trials
In patients with insomnia, pooled trials favored probiotics for sleep quality ratings, while sleep duration and other sleep measures showed no significant effects.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Patients receiving probiotics had better sleep quality questionnaire scores than controls, with moderate certainty assigned to that result. Depression scores also improved, but that evidence had very low certainty. The authors reported no significant effects on sleep duration, sleep efficiency, or time to fall asleep, so the findings do not establish improvement across sleep outcomes.
The review was limited by sample size. Depression evidence had very low certainty and possible publication bias; treatment durations and probiotic formulations are not described here.
What researchers found
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
Probiotics versus controls: mean difference -2.10 points, 95% CI -3.86 to -0.34; moderate-certainty evidence. Treatment durations were not reported.
Ratings and sleep measurements
The Pittsburgh questionnaire measures sleep quality, with lower scores representing improvement in this analysis. That result should be distinguished from the separate findings on sleep length, efficiency, and how long falling asleep took.
Uncertainty differs by outcome
The review assessed confidence in each outcome separately. Its favorable depression result was much less certain than the sleep quality result. Total adverse events did not differ significantly, which does not establish identical safety.
The original publication
Impact of probiotics on sleep quality and mood states in patients with insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Liu Y, Yu Y, Lu S et al.
Front Microbiol · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40740336
- Record checked
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