【推荐1】People who took a cheap diabetes ( 糖尿病) drug after testing positive for COVID-19 had a 40 percent lower risk of getting post-COVID, a US-based study said on Friday.

The finding was regarded as a potential “landmark” in the fight against the still little-understood condition, which the World Health Organization estimates affect 1 in 10 people who get COVID-19. The study said it was the first randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial —considered the gold standard in research—to show that taking a drug can prevent post-COVID. It tested a drug called metformin (二甲双胍),which was originally developed from the French lilac flower, and has been the most common medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes across the world for decades. This means the drug is known to be safe, as well as being inexpensive and widely available.

The study covered 1,126 overweight or obese people in the United States, half receiving metformin and half a placebo in the days after testing positive for COVID-19. After 10 months, 35 of the participants who took metformin were diagnosed with post-COVID, compared to 58 for the placebo group, representing a 40 percent reduction in risk. The trial was conducted between December 2020 and January 2022, meaning it included the Omicron variant, which research has suggested causes post-COVID at a lower rate than previous strains.

The team behind the COVID-OUT trial had previously shown that metformin reduced coronavirus patients’ risk of emergency department visits, hospitalizations and death by more than 40 percent.

Carolyn Bramante, a researcher at the University of Minnesota and the new study’s lead author, told AFP that“our data show that metformin reduces the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus” in patients. Jeremy Faust, a doctor at Harvard Medical School not involved in the study, said in a comment that if confirmed, the findings are profound and potentially landmark”for post-COVID. The researchers cautioned that they did not test metformin on people who had already been diagnosed with post-COVID, so the findings did not mean it could be used to treat the condition.

Sleep is supposed to be a natural thing, but if you wrestle with insomnia (失眠症), you may be tempted to try pieces of equipment that promise better sleep.     1    

“They’ve become the sleep tool to have,” says Alanna McGinn, founder and lead sleep expert at Good Night Sleep Site. “I’m a huge supporter of them because they can work so well.”

About 32 percent of Americans don’t get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.     2     Insomnia impacts as many as 35 percent of adults from time to time, while 10 percent have chronic trouble falling and staying asleep.

Choose one that’s around 10 percent of your body weight.     3     Inside is a layer of plastic, glass or metal balls surrounded by filling. McGinn says the blanket’s heaviness acts as a touch therapy called deep pressure stimulation. Just as wrapping babies tightly can send them to sleep, these blankets help your heart and breathing rates slow and your body release feel-good hormones, including serotonin (血清素).

Are they effective? A 2020 review study in the U.S. looked at eight previous studies and concluded that weighted blankets helped reduce anxiety — but not necessarily insomnia.     4     A randomized controlled study in Sweden looked at 120 people with insomnia and also depression or anxiety.     5     People with conditions such as diabetes or breathing issues, however, should check with their doctor before using one. “And if you’re someone who is a little afraid of an enclosed space, it’s probably not the best thing for you,” adds McGinn.