Do You Have A Food Hangover? [The Wall Street Journal] If you wake up this weekend with a pounding headache, you’ll probably point the finger at that third glass of wine. But there might be another culprit for your holiday hangover: The food you ate. Though the research is controversial, some experts suggest that a wide array of foods—from onions to bananas—can spur painful headaches in certain people. Indeed, an estimated 50% of migraine sufferers find some degree of relief from eliminating “trigger foods” from their diets. The major problem? Because so many foods might be behind headaches, there’s no easy way—other than eliminating them one-by-one—to figure out what’s causing the pain. (What’s to blame for your headache? It might be one of these 7 Weird New Migraine Causes.) A New Workout For Stroke Patients [Live Science] Suffering from a stroke can mean months or years of grueling physical rehabilitation, exacerbated by the fact that one side of the body is often weaker than the other. Incredibly, however, new research from the University of Victoria shows that stroke patients who exercise only the stronger side of their body actually experience equivalent gains on the weaker side as well. These full-body strength gains persisted for years, and experts hope to see the findings applied to improve physical rehab programs for patients. (One in five women will experience a stroke in her lifetime. If you don’t already, Learn The Symptoms Of A Stroke.) Does That Sleeping Pill Actually Work? [The Daily Mail] If you’re convinced that the only cure for a bout of insomnia is a sleeping pill, you may want to rethink that strategy—because the impact of the pills might have more to do with the placebo effect than the drugs they contain. A research team, writing in the British Medical Journal, analyzed 13 clinical trials of more than 4,500 patients, and concluded that the placebo effect yielded around 50% of the benefits that prescription sleeping pills purport to offer. That finding, combined with the myriad side effects that can accompany these pills, raises serious questions about their overall merits. (Fall asleep the natural way with these 10 Simple Sleep Remedies.) Follow her on Twitter: @katiedrumm Send news tips and positive vibes to: Katie.Drummond@rodale.com
