Ketogenic diet improves insomnia and daytime sleepiness among migraine patients

A new study by Giovanni Merlino and colleagues published in the journal of Sleep Medicine suggests that ketogenic diet (KD) may help those with migraines with their sleep issues. Patients with migraines commonly experience sleep issues and ketogenic diet can be an effective alternative for migraine therapy.

This research systematically included 70 migraine sufferers who received KD as a preventative treatment from January 2020 to July 2022. Anthropometric measurements, migraine intensity, frequency, and disability, and subjective sleep complaints, such as insomnia and poor sleep quality measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and excessive daytime sleepiness measured by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), were also recorded.

The key findings of this study were:

1. After three months of KD therapy, anthropometric measurements, such as body mass index and free fat mass, greatly altered, and migraine symptoms, such as decreased intensity, frequency, and disability, were improved.

2. In terms of sleep, we saw that a lower percentage of patients were plagued by insomnia (T0: 60% versus T1: 40%, p < 0.001).

3. Patients who had trouble sleeping also saw a substantial decrease after receiving KD treatment (T0: 74.3% versus T1: 34.3%, p 0.001).

4. At the follow-up, the prevalence of EDS decreased (T0: 40% versus T1: 12.9%, p < 0.001).

5. Changes in anthropometric measurements and migraine improvements were not linked with changes in sleep aspects.

Preventive treatment with the ketogenic diet was linked to better sleep in migraine sufferers, including a decline in patients with insomnia and a decline in excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Additionally, KD treatment was linked to improvements in migraine symptoms, including fewer and milder migraines.

Reference: 

Merlino, G., Tereshko, Y., Pez, S., Dal Bello, S., Pittino, A., Di Lorenzo, C., Filippi, F., Lettieri, C., Belgrado, E., Gigli, G. L., & Valente, M. (2023). Sleep of migraine patients is ameliorated by ketogenic diet, independently of pain control. In Sleep Medicine (Vol. 107, pp. 196–201). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2023.05.006