Latest news with #insomnia
Fox News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Hunter Biden says father was on Ambien before disastrous debate, defends painting sales
Former first son Hunter Biden disclosed his father was on an anti-insomnia prescription ahead of his disastrous 2024 debate that may have affected his command of the stage that evening. Biden said former President Joe Biden had taken Ambien, a gamma-aminobutyric acid enhancer similar to benzodiazepines, to help him sleep better amid his grueling schedule and advanced age. He criticized several members of former President Barack Obama's inner circle for continually doubting his father, saying that the 2024 State of the Union was a make-or-break moment that the elder Biden "knock[ed] out of the park." The debate, he said, was the next test his father was given by Democratic elders to see if he should run for reelection. "I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world, basically, the mileage that he could have flown around the world, three times. He's 81 years old. He's tired as s---. They give him Ambien to be able to sleep," he said. "He gets up on the stage. And he looks like he's a deer in the headlights. And it feeds into every f---ing story that anybody wants to tell," Hunter went on, adding that CNN anchor Jake Tapper's book relied on several anonymous sources for his related expose because in reality no one had spoken out against Joe. "If this was a conspiracy… somehow the entirety of a White House in which you're literally living on top of each other has kept their mouth shut about you now, like what? And what's the conspiracy? Did Joe Biden get old? Yeah, he got old. He got old before our eyes. The people that came out against him were who — nobody — except Speaker Emerita Pelosi did not give a full-throated endorsement, which allowed everybody else to kind of go, 'OK.' "Who came out full-throated? Progressives. AOC, Bernie, the entire progressive wing, [Silicon Valley Congressman] Ro Khanna. The entirety of the progressive side of the Democratic Party said Joe Biden has got more of our agenda accomplished in four years than any president in history. The largest investment into climate change in history, just that alone. And so he gets over the hump. He goes and does Stephanopoulos, and everybody said that's not enough…" Earlier in the interview, with Delaware Valley podcaster Andrew Callaghan, Hunter savaged Obama's inner circle, mocking the hosts of "Pod Save America" — made up of his then-youthful close aides — as "Saviors of the Democratic Party." "[They're] White millionaires that are dining out on their association with Barack Obama from 16 years ago living in Beverly f---ing Hills telling the rest of the world what Black voters in South Carolina really want or what the waitress living outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin [want]. "I hear Rahm Emanuel's going to run for president," he added incredulously. "I think David Axelrod is going to run his campaign for him… there's a f---ing answer; geniuses all." Hunter also disputed claims his father had been the unanimous choice of Democrats in 2020. "Bull----. We lost Iowa. We lost New Hampshire. We came in second in Nevada. David Plouffe and David Axelrod went on TV. They said that there's no way Joe Biden can get the nomination, not a chance in the world. Mike Bloomberg's gonna crush him in California. Elizabeth Warren's gonna beat him in Massachusetts… A lot of rural voters said, 'F--- you, we love Joe.' A lot urban voters said, 'F--- you. We love Joe.' And they voted for him overwhelmingly," he said. He later defended himself against allegations about his decision to market paintings, saying they were a pastime that "saved him" from his vices. "They accused me of crimes for painting. Not that I couldn't sell my paintings, but that it was a clear conspiracy to launder money and to curry influence by selling acrylic on canvas — through this abstract painting by Hunter Biden," he said. "All of a sudden, the Iranians are going to change their nuclear weapons program. It's such f---ing insane bull----. Meanwhile, these mother f---ers are selling gold telephones and sneakers and $2 billion investments in golf courses and selling tickets to the White House for investment into their memecoin. "If you believe the worst possible thing that they've ever said about me [in terms of influence peddling] — what they are openly doing, they're openly doing. And nobody's batting an eye. Don Jr. is opening a club called the Executive Club in Georgetown in which it is promised that you will be able to rub shoulders at the cost of a $500,000 initiation fee with… people and decisionmakers in the cabinet of his father." Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, as well as a representative for former President Joe Biden in regard to the Ambien revelation.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
What kind of exercise can help improve your sleep?
People with insomnia often endure long, uncomfortable nights without rest, but new research indicates that specific forms of exercise may offer relief. A team of researchers in China reviewed 22 clinical trials involving 1,348 participants and assessed how 13 different methods impacted sleep, including seven types of exercise: yoga, Tai chi, walking or jogging, combined aerobic and strength training, strength training alone, aerobic exercise paired with therapy, and various aerobic routines. Advertisement Published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, the study found that yoga was particularly effective, increasing total sleep time by nearly two hours and reducing the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep by almost an hour. This research highlights the powerful link between physical activity and sleep quality. However, it also raises an important question: how exactly does exercise prepare the body and brain for sleep – and which types of exercise are most effective in doing so? Brain 'Exercise can have a direct impact on our brain activity during sleep, including an increase in slow-wave sleep (the stage of sleep that is restorative) and increases our total sleep time,' explains Dr Greg Elder , associate director of Northumbria Sleep Research at Northumbria University. 'This means that we have better sleep for longer.' Hormones 'Exercise can also affect relevant hormones,' says Elder. 'For example, exercise can affect our melatonin levels, which is a hormone involved in sleep-wake regulation, as well as cortisol levels, which is a stress hormone.' Advertisement Mood Exercising outdoors will help boost your mood (Alamy/PA) 'Exercise is also beneficial for our mood, and mood is closely linked with sleep. Bad sleep is usually associated with mood disorders,' notes Elder. 'If we exercise outside and go for a morning run or cycle, for example, then we are typically exposed to bright, outdoor light which in itself is a good thing for our sleep.' If you are struggling with sleep, here are four types of exercises to try… 1. Aerobic exercise like cycling or running Cycling or running can help ease anxiety and improve mood (Alamy/PA) 'Aerobic exercises that increase your heart and breathing rates can make falling asleep easier by lowering your blood pressure and reducing stress,' says Dr Hana Patel, resident sleep expert at Time4Sleep . 'For example, running and cycling are perfect for tackling any anxiety that is keeping you up at night.' Luke Cousins, health and wellbeing physiologist at Nuffield Health agrees and adds: ''It's important to remember though that timings of when you workout is equally important to consider, because exercise can also cause a spike in adrenaline, which keeps your body in an alert state. Advertisement 'For maximum benefit, try to get your exercise about five to six hours before trying to sleep but no later than two hours before bed.' 2. Strength training Strength training can be beneficial (Alamy/PA) Try lifting some weights in the gym or workout using some resistance bands in the comfort of your own home. 'A mix of aerobic exercise and strength training can be beneficial, like lifting weights and using resistance bands,' says Patel. 'But remember to only do what feels comfortable and gradually increase the difficulty as you progress.' 3. Yoga Deep breathing and yoga have a plethora of benefits (Alamy/PA) Slow down and take time to stretch and breathe before bed. Advertisement 'Yoga is also great for improving mindfulness and reducing stress, helping our bodies relax and reducing tension,' says Patel. 'Deep breathing techniques can help to improve sleep quality and relax the nervous system, allowing us to properly unwind before bed.' Elder agrees and adds: 'I would suggest avoiding any activity or exercise that is likely to cause you to be mentally stressed when you go to bed because that is more likely to be an issue, because stress is very bad for our sleep.' 4. Walking Vitamin D and fresh air do wonders for the body and mind (Alamy/PA) A brisk walk in the fresh air can help lower stress and anxiety that might be keeping you up at night. 'Walking is suitable for all fitness levels and can be a huge mood booster as it helps to lower cortisol levels, something which can also impact our sleep quality and our energy levels,' says Samuel Quinn, personal training lead at Nuffield Health. 'If we're walking outdoors – and hopefully away from a screen – this can also help reduce anxiety.' Advertisement
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
I recently broke up with my longtime partner. How do I sleep better alone?
I recently broke up with my longtime partner and am having trouble falling and staying asleep. What can I do to improve my sleep? You are not alone in struggling with this problem. Trouble with sleep after a relationship change is common. Our brain makes associations between our environment and our behaviors. Just like a quiet room can promote peaceful sleep, or listening to a certain audiobook may help with relaxation at bedtime, the presence of a bed partner can also become associated with restful sleep. Following a breakup, the absence of that person can result in disrupted sleep. Acute insomnia occurs in about one-third of adults every year, and most people experience acute insomnia following a breakup. For many people, this can be temporary, but if the change prompts negative sleep associations or habits, then the sleep loss can persist long after people move on from other aspects of the breakup. Breakups can affect sleep on two levels. First, healthy sleep depends on a reliable routine, which includes sleep habits (activities before getting into bed and before going to sleep) and the sleep environment. A breakup typically interrupts these routines: The former partner is no longer present in the bed or part of the bedtime routine. Second, breakups are often emotional and stressful, and acute insomnia is a common — even normal — response to stress. Thinking about the factors involved in the relationship change, and the emotions associated with it, keep the brain busy, and busy brains have a hard time falling asleep. Also, feelings of loneliness or loss, which may be kept at bay during the day, can emerge at night. Getting into an empty bed at night is itself a physical reminder of the change and its accompanying emotions — which alone would be enough to disrupt sleep. But there is an additional, more basic, reason that contributes to post-breakup insomnia: The sleep environment has changed from co-sleeping to sleeping alone. By habitual co-sleeping, the brain learned to associate the presence of another person with falling asleep; after a breakup, the brain must relearn how to fall asleep without another person nearby. Reclaiming your rest following a breakup may require adaptations to your sleep environment, routines and perspective. To disconnect your sleep space from a former partner and make it yours again, try an intentional physical change. Move from the side to the middle of the bed, use a body pillow or a blanket with a new texture, or change the arrangement of the bedroom. These tweaks can help create new sleep associations to minimize the impact of the loss of a habitual bed partner. Some people find it helpful to spend time in a guest room or a different sleep area through the transition because that space is not immediately associated with a former partner. Missing a component of the typical sleep routine — a former bed partner, for instance — changes how people wind down and settle into sleep. This often results in trouble falling asleep or feeling that sleep is less restful throughout the night. A breakup may be a good time to create new routines that help to make sleep a positive and restful experience. Try calming or mindfulness practices, gentle stretching exercises or a cup of warm tea. A new habit around bedtime can then feel like a 'new' or 'positive' change that optimizes your comfort, rather than just trying to make up for the loss of a partner. At night, ruminations can loom larger than during the day — when there are distractions and routines that move us forward. Also, loneliness can feel deeper, stress more consuming and frustrations more acute. Finding an active distraction strategy can be helpful. For instance, a calming podcast or audiobook can refocus your thoughts away from the breakup. The key to an effective distraction strategy is identifying something interesting enough to hold your attention, but not so fascinating that you can't fall asleep while reading, listening or thinking about this topic. Ideally, this is something not associated with a prior bed partner. These techniques also prevent your current disturbed sleep from becoming a long-term problem. For example, if emotions such as frustration and anxiety become a habit once your head hits the pillow, then your brain learns to associate bedtime with these stressful thoughts. To set yourself up for success, don't get into bed until you are really sleepy. This is good advice in general, but can be especially helpful when there is something unsettling about the sleep space (such as a reminder that someone isn't there). Reminding yourself that difficulty with sleeping through a breakup is normal can minimize the anxiety associated with poor sleep. If you find yourself focusing on the sleep loss, staring at the ceiling in anger or desperately counting the diminishing hours of potential rest, tell yourself that rocky nights are allowed while you adjust to new circumstances and that sleep will fall back into place. Try to avoid spending the time you can't sleep ruminating on stressful topics, and allow yourself time to rest, even if you are not sleeping perfectly. As your sleep routines adjust to the new circumstance, you will start getting more restful sleep. And know when to ask for help: If post-breakup sleep difficulties become a pattern, sleep is troublesome more nights than not, or if the sleep disruption impacts your daytime function, it might be time to talk with a clinician to get the support you need to get back to a good night of sleep. Margaret Blattner, MD, PhD, is a neurologist and sleep medicine physician in the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and clinical instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School. If you have a question for a therapist about mental health, relationships, sleep, dating or any other topic, email it to AskATherapist@ and we may feature it in a future column.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Taking that yoga class may help you sleep better
Want to improve the quality of your sleep? Taking a yoga class or some other form of gentle exercise can make a major difference. Researchers say yoga, Tai Chi, walking, and jogging may be the best types of exercise to improve sleep quality and ease insomnia. Insomnia, or an inability to fall asleep, affects some 25 to 30 million Americans. "Insomnia can impact everyday life and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases [like heart disease and stroke] and Alzheimer's… and exercise is nature's sleeping pill," Dr. Zhijun Bu, the lead author of the study and master student at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, told ABC News. Bu and fellow researchers say that their findings back the use of exercise as a primary treatment strategy for poor sleep patterns. Comparing the results of 22 relevant randomized clinical trials involving 1,348 participants and 13 different treatments to ease insomnia, they assessed and scored their effectiveness, including factors such as sleep quality and insomnia severity, the percentage of time asleep when in bed, the number of times people woke up after going to sleep, and the time it took to fall asleep. Researchers say that yoga and other exercises could be an effective treatment for insomnia. The condition impacts tens of millions of Americans (AFP via Getty Images) The programs analyzed in the study ranged in length from a month to 26 weeks and seven were exercised-based. The exercises evaluated also included aerobic plus strength exercise, strength training alone, aerobic exercise combined with therapy, and mixed aerobic exercises. The non-exercise-related approaches were cognitive behavioral therapy, sleep hygiene, acupuncture and massage, nothing, Ayurveda medicine, and existing treatment for the issue. The durations of those approaches ranged from six to 26 weeks. The researchers said that cognitive behavioral therapy, which is commonly called psychotherapy, is likely to result in a large increase in total sleep time and may improve sleep efficiency and shorten the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep. But, exercise also showed promising outcomes. Practicing yoga, for example, likely results in a large increase in total sleep time of nearly two hours, improve sleep efficiency by nearly 15 percent, reduce the amount of time spent awake after falling asleep by nearly an hour, and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep by around half an hour. Going for a walk or jog could result in a large reduction in insomnia severity and Tai Chi may increase total sleep time by more than 50 minutes, reduce time spent awake after falling asleep by over half an hour, and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep by around 25 minutes. Tai Chi performed better on all assessed outcomes than existing treatments for up to two years. Tai Chi may increase your total sleep time by nearly an hour, the meta analysis found. Yoga likely results in an increase in total sleep time of nearly two hours (Getty Images for National Counci) The analysis was published recently in the online journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. The authors said the explanation for their findings was likely tied to biology. Yoga focuses on controlled breathing and body awareness. Tai Chi also emphasizes breath control and relaxation and has been shown to decrease sympathetic nervous system activity. Walking or jogging may improve sleep by increasing energy expenditure, curbing cortisol production, boosting secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin, and enhancing the amount of deep sleep. "Our research shows people of all ages and genders can observe the sleep benefits of exercise," Bu said. "We hope our findings can lead to further changes within public health."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New study says these workouts don't just build strength — they improve your sleep, too
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. If you struggle to sleep at night, you've probably been told somewhere along the line to try exercising more. But that doesn't necessarily mean lifting weights or powering through a HIIT session before bed is the most effective route to a good night's sleep. Scientists have been looking into which types of exercise work best for easing insomnia, and a recent study published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine reveals the verdict. What the study looked at A large new study analyzed 22 clinical trials comparing 13 treatments for insomnia, including seven types of exercise like yoga, Tai Chi, jogging, walking, and strength training. While cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) remains a top pick for treating poor sleep, several exercise forms showed impressive benefits, too. Tai Chi was the undisputed MVP for sleep quality, outperforming other exercises by boosting total sleep time by nearly an hour, cutting down how long you stay awake after falling asleep, and shortening the time it takes to drift off, with benefits lasting up to two years. Yoga followed close behind, adding almost two hours of extra shut-eye and improving sleep efficiency. If this has inspired you to tap into more gentle forms of movement, and we can help recommend the best yoga mat for your downward dogs and pigeon poses. Jogging and walking also made the list, easing insomnia severity and helping the body produce more melatonin, the hormone that signals your brain it's bedtime. Why these exercises work Researchers suggest the benefits come down to breath control, relaxation, and emotional regulation with mind-body moves like Tai Chi and yoga. Jogging and walking boost energy use and reduce stress hormones, helping to prepare your body for rest. Of course, if you suffer from severe insomnia, exercise alone might not be enough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a comprehensive resource page with guidance from expert organizations such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. More from Tom's Guide Massive Skechers sale live from $9 at Amazon — 17 deals I'd shop now on sneakers and apparel Don't own a smartwatch? Strava's app update just made phone tracking way better This 4-2-1 workout split is going viral on TikTok — here's how it works
