Ketogenic diet improves insomnia and daytime sleepiness among migraine patients

Written By : Jacinthlyn Sylvia |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2023-06-13T09:45:48+05:30 | Updated On 13 Jun 2023 3:03 PM IST

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

ketogenic dietmigraineSleep Medicine Journalexcessive daytime sleepiness

Source : Sleep Medicine

Jacinthlyn Sylvia

Neuroscience Masters graduate

Jacinthlyn Sylvia, a Neuroscience Master's graduate from Chennai has worked extensively in deciphering the neurobiology of cognition and motor control in aging. She also has spread-out exposure to Neurosurgery from her Bachelor’s. She is currently involved in active Neuro-Oncology research. She is an upcoming neuroscientist with a fiery passion for writing. Her news cover at Medical Dialogues feature recent discoveries and updates from the healthcare and biomedical research fields. She can be reached at editorial@medicaldialogues.in

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751