Scientists Discover Startling Trick to Defeat Insomnia

Insomnia is a curse we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy — and scientists have discovered a startlingly simple lifestyle change that appears to be very statistically effective at preventing it.
In a new study published in the journal Sleep Health, researchers from Columbia and the University of Chicago report that eating a full day's serving worth of fruits and vegetables strongly appears to help people sleep more soundly throughout the night.
Interrupted sleep, which is known as "sleep fragmentation" to researchers, has been found to induce a litany of grim health outcomes ranging from heart failure to diabetes and cognitive problems to cognitive dysfunction.
One major culprit might be a familiar one to many participants in our industrial food system: poor nutrition lacking in fresh fruits and veggies. The researchers recruited 34 healthy young adults with an average age of 28 years old who had no known sleep issues before. The participants were tasked with tagging their food input into an app for 201 days, and wore wrist monitors that tracked their sleep throughout.
After analyzing the data from the app and wrist monitors with statistical modeling, the researchers found that sleep quality can improve up to a staggering 16 percent after eating five cups of fruit and vegetables — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition of a full day's serving — as compared to a diet that lacks produce.
What's more, the effects were effectively instantaneous: sleep improvements took place the very same nights that participants reported eating lots of fruits and vegetables.
"It's remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours," explained UChicago sleep expert Esra Tasali said in the school's press release.
Though 16 percent may not seem like much, Tasali characterized it as a "highly significant difference."
It's possible, per Columbia's statement on the study, that the amino acid tryptophan — the same one cited in anecdata about getting sleepy post-Thanksgiving turkey — might be responsible.
Fruits and vegetables contain carbohydrates that help the brain absorb tryptophan, Columbia explains, which in turn helps aid the production of the sleepy hormone melatonin. Though you can purchase synthetic melatonin supplements at the store, it's tastier and healthier to get your brain to produce it for you by eating produce.
Five cups may seem a bit daunting, but the researchers insist that eating more fruits and vegetables in general can help you sleep better even if you don't reach that full serving.
"People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better," author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, the director of Columbia's sleep center, said in the school's press release. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control."
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Fox News

a day ago

• Fox News

Eating more fruits and vegetables linked to surprising effect on sleep

Your daily meal selections could influence the quality of your sleep, new research says. A study from the University of Chicago Medicine and Columbia University found that increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables could help promote more restful sleep. Previous research has shown that people who lack quality sleep may be more likely to indulge in unhealthy foods that are high in fat and sugar — and now this new finding sheds more light on how consumed foods impact sleep. In the small study — which was published in "Sleep Health: The Journal of the National Sleep Foundation" — 34 healthy young adults reported their daily food consumption and wore a tracker to measure how often they woke up or changed sleep patterns during the night, according to a press release. Those who reported eating more fruits and vegetables during the day were found to have "deeper, more uninterrupted sleep." Greater amounts of healthy carbohydrates, like whole grains, were found to have that same benefit, the study found. "Dietary modifications could be a new, natural and cost-effective approach to achieve better sleep," said co-senior author Esra Tasali, MD, director of the UChicago Sleep Center, in the release. "The temporal associations and objectively-measured outcomes in this study represent crucial steps toward filling a gap in important public health knowledge." Based on the study findings, the researchers concluded that people who eat at least five cups of fruits and veggies per day could have a 16% increase in quality of sleep compared to those who eat none of those foods. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control." "16 percent is a highly significant difference," Tasali said in the release. "It's remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours." "Based on current data, the experts confidently advise that regularly eating a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables is best for long-term sleep health," the release stated. The American Heart Association provides the following examples of fruit and veggie servings that equate to 1 cup of produce. Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, head sleep expert at Wesper in Michigan, said that most sleep professionals recognize that a healthy diet supports overall well-being, including sleep quality — "so the findings of this study are not entirely unexpected." "However, it's important to note that this was a relatively small study composed primarily of young adult male participants, which limits generalizability," Rohrscheib, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "While the results were statistically significant, the overall reduction in sleep fragmentation was modest, about 16%." The study was also observational in nature, she noted, which means it lacked the control of a randomized trial. "Ideally, future research would compare a group consuming a fruit- and vegetable-rich diet to a control group with limited intake to better establish causality," the doctor added. The researchers plan to conduct more studies to confirm that eating produce causes better sleep and to determine the "underlying mechanisms of digestion, neurology and metabolism" driving this impact, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit "People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better," said co-senior author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia, in the release. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control."

The Hill

a day ago

• The Hill

Trump's megabill hits more trouble as Senate conservatives demand changes

The Senate version of legislation to enact President Trump's agenda is hitting new turbulence as conservatives led by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are demanding deeper spending cuts to address the nation's $2.2 trillion annual deficit. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has focused this week on addressing the concerns of Senate GOP colleagues such as Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who raised alarms about cuts to federal Medicaid spending. But Thune has to worry about his right flank as Johnson and his allies are threatening to hold up the bill unless GOP leaders agree to deeper cuts to federal Medicaid spending and a faster rollback of the renewable energy tax credits enacted under former President Biden. Johnson, Lee and Scott are threatening to vote as a bloc against the bill next week unless it undergoes significant changes. Thune plans to bring the bill to the floor Wednesday or Thursday next week, but he may not have enough votes to proceed on the legislation, say Republican senators. 'There's no way I vote for this thing next week,' Johnson told reporters. 'I don't want to go the Nancy Pelosi route, 'You got to pass this bill to know what's in it,'' he added, referring to the Democratic Speaker emerita who represents California. Johnson noted that senators are taking a closer look at a proposal offered by Scott to significantly reduce the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), or the federal government's share of Medicaid spending, in states that expanded the program under former President Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA). Lee is pushing for a fuller phaseout of the renewable energy subsidies enacted by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 'Mike is handling the IRA provisions of this, Rick Scott is handling the Medicaid. You need to satisfy those two, too. All three of us have to be yes or none of us are yes,' Johnson said. Scott, who founded the Columbia Hospital Corp. and went on to run Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., one of the world's largest health care companies, wants to dramatically cut the 90 percent federal match for states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA. 'The focus should be on how do we take care of what Medicaid's original purpose was? It's children and the chronically ill,' he said. Scott argues that able-bodied low-income adults are drawing far too much of Medicaid spending in states that expanded the program, such as California and New York. 'Half the people, half the adults that are on Medicaid under the expanded FMAP are not working,' he said, adding that these people are not disabled. 'We're running $2 trillion deficits.' Scott says Medicaid shouldn't pay out more than Medicare and that states should not be eligible for expanded federal Medicaid payments for new enrollees after two years. He also wants to further crack down on states' use of health care provider taxes to increase their share of federal Medicaid spending. That sets up a fight next week with Senate Republican colleagues who have balked at the cuts to Medicaid spending unveiled Monday by Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). The current Senate bill would reduce the maximum permitted provider tax rate from 6 percent to 3.5 percent by 2031. The Florida senator said colleagues such as Hawley and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who are worried about limiting health care provider taxes, have a 'legitimate concern' about the fate of rural hospitals. But he argued that the high rate of Medicaid spending won't solve their problems. Collins has proposed a 'provider-relief fund' to the bill to help offset Medicaid cuts for rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers. Lee, the Utah Republican, meanwhile is calling for a more rapid and complete phaseout of renewable energy subsidies in the bill and for tougher language to keep tax benefits from going to immigrants who entered the country illegally. 'Green New Deal subsidies that don't terminate by 2028 will effectively become permanent. If you don't want them to be permanent, tell your senators!' Lee posted on social platform X. Language released Monday by the Senate Finance Committee would extend tax credits for hydropower, nuclear and geothermal energy into the 2030s. A faster and broader phaseout of clean energy subsidies would be opposed by Republican senators such as Murkowski, Jerry Moran (Kan.), John Curtis (Utah) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), who warn that a sudden termination of federal support would disrupt the renewable fuel industry, cost jobs and strand billions of dollars in investment. Yet Senate conservatives are ready for a showdown, arguing the deficit poses a major threat to the U.S. economy. 'The deficit will eat us alive if we don't get it under control. If not us, who? If not now, when?' Lee posted Thursday on X. Johnson said Trump promised to balance the budget but argued 'the bill before us does not do it' and will instead worsen deficits over the next decade. He said while the spending cuts in the legislation are 'the most spending reduction we've had ever,' the 'spending increase is unprecedented, 10 times more.' 'Look at the numbers,' he said. The Congressional Budget Office unveiled a new projection that the House-passed bill to enact Trump's agenda would add $3.4 trillion to the debt.

2 days ago

A pregnant brain-dead woman in Georgia was kept on life support. Experts say it raises ethical, legal questions

Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old Georgia nurse and mother, was just eight weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February after suffering a medical condition. However, the family claims the hospital told them legally she had to be kept on life support to allow the fetus to grow due to the state's strict abortion law. Her family alleges they were not allowed a say in whether to continue her care, according to local Atlanta station 11Alive. Last week, Smith's baby was born by emergency Caesarean section, weighing under 2 pounds and needing care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), reported 11Alive. Smith's family did not respond to ABC News' request for comment. In a statement to ABC News, Emory Healthcare, the health care system Emory hospitals fall under, said its staff makes medical recommendations for patients using many factors. "The top priorities at Emory Healthcare continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients and families we serve. Emory Healthcare uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers as they make medical recommendations," the statement read. "Emory Healthcare is legally required to maintain the confidentiality of the protected health information of our patients, which is why we are unable to comment on individual matters and circumstances.' The case has captured national attention and raised numerous legal and ethical questions about medical consent; who should get to make decisions for permanently incapacitated people, especially when pregnant; and whether abortion laws are further complicating pregnancy care. "This is a case that reflects the confusion in the post-Dobbs-era," Michele Goodwin, the O'Neill professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown Law, told ABC News, referencing the Supreme Court decision that resulted in the overruling of Roe v. Wade. "Because the hospital believed that it could not allow this brain-dead woman to simply be deceased because the state has a very strict abortion law, they believe that they needed to do all matters possible to keep the fetus alive," she continued. What happened to Adriana Smith? Smith, who was 30 at the time, went to Northside Hospital in metro Atlanta in early February after developing severe headaches, her mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive. Newkirk said Smith was given medication and sent home. She was not given a CT scan and not kept overnight for observation, according to Newkirk. Northside Hospital did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment. Newkirk said Smith's boyfriend woke up to her daughter gasping for air and she was taken to Emory Decatur -- and then Emory University Hospital -- where a CT scan showed multiple blood clots in her brain, according to 11Alive. She was declared brain dead on Feb. 19. The family told the local station that doctors allegedly said they were legally obligated to keep Smith on life support until the fetus was viable. "I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision," Newkirk told 11Alive. "And if not, then their partner or their parents." Newkirk said the family might not have chosen to end the pregnancy, but not having the decision because of the law added to their trauma, reported 11Alive. How does Georgia's abortion law play a role? In 2019, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Georgia's so-called heartbeat bill, known as the LIFE Act. The law prevents abortions from being performed once fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which typically occurs at about six weeks' gestation -- before many women know they're pregnant -- and redefines the word "person" in Georgia to include an embryo or fetus at any stage of development. The ban was initially blocked in court but was reinstated after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022. In September 2024, a state judge ruled that the ban was unconstitutional, but it was reinstated one week later by the Georgia Supreme Court. Goodwin said the act does not explicitly state that a deceased pregnant patient must be kept tethered to mechanical ventilation and there is no legislative history suggesting this was the intent of legislators who wrote the law. Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, believes the hospital could have misinterpreted Georgia's abortion law. "What happened had nothing to do with abortion," Caplan told ABC News. "[The hospital] said they felt they had their hands tied. They couldn't do anything. They might break the abortion laws. Stopping care on a dead body that's pregnant is not an abortion. It just isn't. There is no way it can be." Thaddeus Pope, a law professor and bioethicist at the Mitchell Hamlin School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, agreed, saying if the family had declined continuing organ-sustaining treatment for Smith, it would not qualify as an abortion. "Yes, it would cause the death of the fetus, but that would not have been the goal or the intent or the motive, and that's a requirement under the definition of an abortion in the state of Georgia," he told ABC News. He added that Emory health care professionals may have been worried about turning off life support due to the "fetal personhood" section of the act. In a statement to 11Alive in May, the Georgia attorney general's office clarified that the act did not require Emory to keep Smith on life support. The office did not return ABC News' request for comment. Who gets to make medical decisions? Typically, hospitals follow advance directives, which are legal documents in which individuals outline instructions for medical care if they become unable to make decisions for themselves. If the individual does not have an advance directive, decisions on medical care generally fall to next of kin, such as a spouse, adult children or parents. It is not clear if Smith had an advance directive, but it likely would have been inapplicable because she was declared legally dead. In he absence of a directive, the decision on care should have fallen to a family member, according to Caplan. "There's no ethical justification for making unilateral decisions about what happened to Ms. Smith," Caplan said. "The family should have been involved to the extent to which they were capable of doing it." He said if the family felt too overwhelmed, then the next step would be getting a judge to appoint an independent guardian who can make decisions, adding, "You don't have the hospital staff do it." Pope said that under the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act of 2007, a pregnant patient cannot be removed from life-sustaining treatment if the fetus is viable, even if there is an advanced directive request the removal. However, he said this would not apply to Smith because she was declared brain dead. Goodwin said she believes the landscape in a post-Dobbs America means more cases like Smith's are likely to occur and there will be confusion over what treatment to provide. Many state abortion laws have criminal penalties against medical providers, doctors, nurses or hospitals that perform abortions, which leads to providers being overly cautious, she explained. "So, what were the gold standards of treatment have now been put to the sidelines, as there is just simply confusion and a sense that better to not provide services, better to keep a person on ventilation who's brain dead than to act according to medical training and ethical training," Goodwin said. Caplan said there are ethical concerns raised about maintaining artificial breathing and heart function for Smith to help the fetus grow. [moved up] "The baby was incubated in a dead body. Is that normal?" he said. "Did the baby get enough oxygen, nutrients from a dead body Sadly, I'm not yet convinced that just because a baby has been delivered that the outcome is going to be good." Whether the family decided they did or did not want to keep Smith alive to save her baby, the choice should have been theirs, Pope said. "Arguably that same choice that would have been presented to the pregnant patient herself should be presented to the pregnant patient's substitute decision-maker," he said. Is there an obligation to keep the fetus alive? Newkirk told 11Alive doctors told the family that Smith's baby had a build-up of fluid in the brain and there were concerns of health issues including a risk of blindness or not being able to walk. "This decision should've been left to us. Now we're left wondering what kind of life he'll have -- and we're going to be the ones raising him," she told the station. Although doctors were hoping to keep Smith alive up until 32 weeks gestation, an emergency C-section was performed at 25 weeks gestation. It's unclear why the emergency C-section was needed. Baby Chance was born weighing 1 pound and 13 ounces and will require NICU care, according to 11Alive. A legally dead pregnant patient being kept on life support for so long is very rare. A 2014 review found most documented cases show gestation being prolonged by two to six weeks in legally dead pregnant patients. Additionally, a systematic review from German researchers found 30 such cases in medical literature between 1982 and 2010. Of those cases, just 12 viable infants were born and survived the neonatal period, which is the first 28 days of life. "I think there's a lot of lessons about the impact of abortion and fetal personhood laws," Pope said. "I think this is an extreme example that shows the impact is far wider than just preventing a so-called traditional abortion, and I think it adversely impacts the health care of pregnant women."