The New York Times (12/1, A14, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports that research indicated “more than half of chronic insomniacs who used an automated online therapy program reported improvement within weeks and were sleeping normally a year later.” The findings were published online Nov. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry.

HealthDay (11/30, Reinberg) reports that in “the study, more than 300 adults were randomly assigned to the six-week program,” called SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), “or to online patient education about improving sleep.”

Healio (11/30) reports that “participants who received SHUTi exhibited greater improvement in insomnia severity (P < .001), sleep-onset latency (P < .001) and wake after sleep onset (P < .001), compared with those who received online education.” The investigators found that “treatment effects were maintained at 1-year follow-up, with 56.6% of the SHUTi group achieving remission status and 69.7% identified as treatment responders at 1 year based on Insomnia Severity Index data.” Psychiatric News (11/30) reports the authors of an accompanying editorialobserved that the study’s “results provide an indication that the benefits conferred by SHUTi are not diminished by the presence of either psychiatric or medical comorbidities.” Related Links:

— “Insomniacs Are Helped by Online Therapy, Study Finds,”Benedict Carey, The New York Times, December 1, 2016.

USA Today (11/30, Hafner) reports, “Frequent posting on Facebook” may be associated with “increased rumination and depression,” researchers found after reviewing “studies from 14 countries entailing 35,000 participants between ages 15 and 88.” The review’s findings (pdf) were published in the November issue of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

Related Links:

— “Comparing yourself to Facebook friends is a recipe for depressionComparing yourself to Facebook friends is a recipe for depression,”Josh Hafner, USA Today , November 30, 2016.

The NPR (11/30) “Shots” blog reports, “The number of people who have trouble paying their medical bills has plummeted in the last five years as more people have gained health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and gotten jobs as the economy has improved.” A report “from the National Center for Health Statistics released Wednesday shows that the number of people whose families are struggling to pay medical bills fell by 22 percent, or 13 million people, in the last five years.” This year, about “20 million people…have health insurance because of the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.” That figure “includes about 10 million people who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid and another 10 million who buy insurance on the Obamacare exchanges or are young adults covered through their parents’ insurance.”

Related Links:

— “Millions Of People Are Having An Easier Time Paying Medical Bills,”Alison Kodjak, NPR, November 30, 2016.

Healio (11/29) reports the Food and Drug Administration “is calling for further research on earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease to attack the disorder head on.” In a press release, Eric Bastings, MD, deputy director of FDA’s Division of Neurology Products, said, “There may be a window of opportunity to affect the disease before people experience symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “FDA calls for more research in early Alzheimer’s disease, Healio, November 29, 2016.

HealthDay (11/28, Dotinga) reports that research suggests “chronically ill women who don’t use the internet may struggle with worse health.” Investigators came to this conclusion after analyzing “information provided by hundreds of American women aged 44 and older with at least one chronic condition,” such as “heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, emphysema and anxiety.” The findings were published in the Journal of Women’s Health.

Related Links:

— “Many Women With Chronic Ills Don’t Use Online Tools,”Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, November 28, 2016.