Why You Can't Sleep (And the 4 Methods That Actually Work)

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Today’s Health Upgrade

• How your phone can help you sleep

• Do diet drinks increase your hunger?

• Adam’s corner: The last carry

Health
Can Apps Really Fix Your Sleep? (What 29 Studies Revealed)

If you're staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., wondering whether your phone might hold the solution to your insomnia, science says…maybe it does.

Sleep therapy apps can significantly reduce insomnia severity and improve sleep quality.

Researchers analyzed data from 29 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 10,000 people to find out whether apps using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques improve sleep. 

While not quite as effective as therapist-guided support, the apps were effective at improving sleep quality and reducing insomnia severity.

Sleep struggles aren’t just about poor sleep—it’s about the thoughts and habits that leave you tossing and turning and your mind wandering. You can break that cycle by retraining your brain and body to sleep better, using techniques like:

Stimulus Control: This trains your brain to associate your bed only with sleep.
Practical rules include only going to bed when sleepy, getting out of bed if you can't fall asleep within 15-20 minutes, no phones/TV/work in bed, and waking up at the same time every day, regardless of how much you slept.

Sleep Restriction: It sounds counterintuitive, but this limits your time in bed to match your actual sleep time. If you typically sleep 6 hours but spend 8 hours in bed, you'd initially only allow yourself 6 hours in bed. As your sleep efficiency improves (spending more time sleeping versus lying awake), you gradually increase time in bed.

Relaxation Techniques: Apps typically include progressive muscle relaxation (tensing and releasing muscle groups), deep breathing exercises, or guided imagery to help calm your nervous system before sleep.

Cognitive Restructuring: This challenges anxious thoughts about sleep. Instead of "I'll be exhausted tomorrow if I don't sleep," you learn to think, "One bad night won't ruin me, and worrying about it makes sleep harder."

The research also shows that changing your sleep environment and bed temperature can physically make it easier for you to fall asleep faster and get more deep sleep. 

But if that doesn’t do the trick, a good app that focuses on your mind can be a game-changer. You won’t feel better overnight—but within 4 to 8 weeks, many people see big improvements. And if you don’t? You’ve already laid the groundwork to make professional therapy more effective. Start with what’s accessible, and you might be surprised by how much things improve.

Fact Or Fiction 
Do Artificial Sweeteners Make You Hungrier?

You've probably heard the warning before: "Artificial sweeteners will trick your brain, spike your cravings, and make you eat more." It's become nutrition gospel in some circles. But when scientists actually tested this theory with rigorous experiments, they discovered something that might surprise you.

Artificial sweeteners don't increase hunger—and people who regularly use them may actually have better control over their food cravings.

Two studies paint a clear picture that contradicts the common fear-mongering around artificial sweeteners and appetite.

In one study, researchers followed 493 adults through a full year of weight management. Half drank only water, while the other half could enjoy artificially sweetened beverages. Those drinking diet beverages lost more weight (16.5 pounds vs. 13.4 pounds) and kept it off better than the water-only group.

The second study examined the craving question by exposing people to chocolate cues designed to trigger food desires. Here's where it gets interesting: 

People who regularly consumed artificially sweetened beverages showed remarkable protection against craving-induced overeating. When tempted with chocolate imagery, non-users of artificial sweeteners increased their food intake significantly, but regular users maintained steady consumption regardless of the tempting cues.

Even more telling: When researchers removed artificially sweetened beverages from the environment entirely, regular users consumed significantly more total calories, felt less in control of their eating, and experienced more guilt around food choices.

The research suggests that artificially sweetened beverages may work as a "craving management tool." 

When you're faced with intense food desires, having a sweet, satisfying, zero-calorie option gives you something to reach for instead of higher-calorie alternatives. Rather than triggering more hunger, these beverages appear to help people satisfy their sweet tooth without derailing their eating goals.

Regular users also showed an "attentional bias" toward artificially sweetened drinks when faced with food cues—essentially, their brains had learned to associate these beverages with craving satisfaction, creating a helpful automatic response.

If you've been avoiding diet sodas or artificially sweetened drinks because you're worried they'll make you hungrier, the science doesn't support that fear. If you don’t like them or don’t drink them, there’s no need to start. However, if you're someone who struggles with sweet cravings, these beverages might actually be a useful tool in your toolkit.

Adam’s Corner
The Last Carry

Asher wanted a piggyback ride. I didn’t want to give it.

It had been a long day, and honestly, he’s seven now. So I figured he could walk up to his bedroom on his own. At first, I said no. And then, I couldn’t stop looking at him—how tall he’s getting, how much he’s changed—and I felt that quiet fear every parent knows: When will it be the last time I get to do this? And will I even realize it while it’s happening?

But this moment wasn’t about parenting. It was something much bigger.

I told Ash to jump on my back. He climbed on, arms wrapped around my shoulders, his laughter bouncing down the hallway as I carried him upstairs. I pretended like I lost him as he held on tight. Asher? Asher? Where are you? 

It felt like time slowed, like the ride wasn’t about the destination; it was the recognition that the moment could still be lived as more than just a memory. This week, we’ve repeated the ride almost every night because I remembered something I never want to forget:

There’s a last carry for everything. And most of the time, we don’t see it coming.

Two days ago, it was my father’s birthday. It’s now the third birthday since brain cancer took him, and yet he’s still teaching me lessons. When I think of him, I think of the man who could spend hours outside, who skied black diamonds well into his sixties, who lifted weights until the very end.

And then cancer stripped him of everything in the cruelest way. He went from skiing runs most people wouldn’t dare, to not being able to walk, to barely being able to see or feed himself—all in the span of six months. He was only 68.

Near the end, he admitted part of what hurt the most wasn’t just what he was going through now—it was realizing he never saw the “lasts” coming. The last time he skied. The last time he lifted weights. The last time he drove a car. They just…happened. One day he had them. The next, he didn’t.

While my dad’s example feels extreme, to some extent, isn’t that all of us?

We think loss belongs only to illness or tragedy, but the truth is: every single one of us will face the last time we do the things we take for granted. The last run. The last pickup game. The last time we dance at a wedding, or wrestle with our kids on the floor.

So what do we do?

Treat every chance as if it could be the last carry.

We go to the gym not because we have to, but because one day we may not be able to.
We take the stairs because one day we might be forced to choose the elevator.
We say yes to the piggyback ride, or the walk, or the moment—because one day, it won’t be there to say yes to.

Here’s the paradox, and the thing that keeps me going on the days when I don’t feel like it — which happens often for all of us:

When you live with an appreciation that nothing lasts forever, when you honor the moments as if they’re fleeting, you often get to keep them longer. 

You move your body more, you laugh more, you connect more, and those choices push the “last time” further and further away.

But none of us gets to outrun it forever.

Which means the only real question is this:

When the last carry finally comes, and that sobering reality hits, will you regret the ones you said no to — or will you smile, knowing you said yes as often as you could? -AB

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell