Good morning. Should you look at your phone before bed? Scientists offer some surprising answers.
Light it up
Don’t look at your phone before bed if you want a decent night’s sleep, we’ve been told. In fact, put it in another room! The blue light from screens will make it harder for you to conk out and leave you feeling less rested tomorrow, research says. Right? Actually, no. The link between blue light and sleep is murkier than originally thought, scientists now say. In some cases, screen use can even help you sleep. This doesn’t mean you should turn on every device in your bedroom before you hit the sack. But there’s already enough anxiety about how to sleep well; maybe don’t stress about this. In a story published this morning, I explain what we know. The researchAfter blue light hits your eyes, the brain suppresses the production of the hormone melatonin, which normally makes you feel drowsy. As a result, you feel more alert. Not all screen use seems to cause this dip. It may depend on how bright your device is, how long you use it for and how close it is to your eyes. One small study found that watching television from nine feet away had no effect on melatonin levels. And it’s not even clear whether screen exposure impairs sleep in the first place. Most studies on the topic were performed in controlled laboratories with a small number of subjects, so it’s hard to say if their results translate to regular life. What caused your restless night? Maybe it was an afternoon cup of coffee or a snoring bed partner, not blue light. In 2024, the National Sleep Foundation concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to blame blue light for sleeplessness. What you’re watchingSome research suggests that what you do with your device may matter more than whether you use it. Interactive activities like video games, social media, shopping and gambling are among the worst things you can do. They engage the brain’s reward system, which can keep you awake and glued to your device well into the night. You can put down the iPad, but “you can’t turn your brain off,” one researcher told me. There’s less consensus about other types of screen use. It may depend on what you’re watching on your phone or reading on your Kindle. A suspenseful drama might mess with your sleep more than a comforting old series. If you already know the outcome, you’ll have an easier time turning off your phone — and your brain. The good screensFor people who struggle with dark, obsessive thoughts just before bed, watching or reading something relaxing may actually help. It should be engaging enough to distract from your negative thoughts yet boring enough not to keep you up. The “sweet spot” seems to be something light and familiar like a scripted comedy, said one psychologist who specializes in insomnia. His patients love “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Whatever you decide to read or watch, try to avoid doing it in bed. That helps your brain associate your bed with one thing — sleep. Read about how researchers changed their tune.
The smoke from the wildfires that burned through Los Angeles in January smelled like plastic and was so thick that it hid the ocean. Firefighters who responded developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo and dropped to their knees, vomiting and dizzy. Seven months later, some are still jolted awake by wheezing fits in the middle of the night. One damaged his vocal cords so badly that his young son says he sounds like a supervillain. Another used to run a six-minute mile and now struggles to run at all. It would be unthinkable for urban firefighters to enter a burning building without a mask. But across the country, tens of thousands of people who fight wildfires spend weeks working in toxic smoke and ash wearing only a cloth bandanna, or nothing at all. Wildfire crews were once seasonal laborers who fit in deployments between other jobs. They might have experienced only a few bad smoke days a year and had the winter and spring to recover. Now, as the United States sees more drought and extreme heat, forest fires are starting earlier in the year, burning longer and expanding farther. These firefighters often work almost year-round. And many of them are getting very sick. Read Hannah Dreier’s report about what’s happening to them.
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Zohran Mamdani lives in a rent-stabilized apartment even though he makes $142,000. Does it matter? Yes. Mamdani benefits from a housing provision meant for low-income New Yorkers. “Seems like Mamdani has a very personal interest in batting down proposals for means testing,” The New York Post’s Rikki Schlott writes. (Means testing is when your income determines your eligibility for a government benefit.) No. Almost half of all New York City apartments are rent-stabilized. “Is Cuomo really proposing that middle class and upper middle class New Yorkers should be barred from 50% of all apartments?” City & State New York’s Peter Sterne writes.
Unlike some Americans, Jacob Dreyer doesn’t see China’s rising biotech sector as a threat. Its cheap drugs could compete with Big Pharma and incentivize the development of new medicines, he argues. Gen X-ers feel professionally disappointed, but they shouldn’t blame younger generations for their problems, Elizabeth Spiers writes. Here’s a column by Nicholas Kristof on his pro-Israel critics. Save up to 75% on Games. Our best offer won’t last. Add some play to your day with Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, the Crossword and more. Subscribe to New York Times Games and save up to 75% on your first year — get full access to our puzzle archives, play ad free in the app, use tools to help you improve and more.
TikTok Live: People are watching strawberry picking online. They’re interested in the hidden work behind American abundance. Spain: The tradition of the siesta is no accident. It’s how people have stayed cool in extreme heat for years. Attention span: Being in nature is great for your brain. Experts are trying to figure out why. Vows: How do you win a professor’s heart? Play the long game. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about climbing stocks. “General Hospital”: Tristan Rogers, a soap opera star, died at 79. He became a fixture of daytime television by playing a mysterious spy who became a police commissioner on the soap opera.
Track and field: Kishane Thompson of Jamaica beat the American Noah Lyles by fractions of a second at the Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland. M.L.S.: Lionel Messi is back. After going out with a hamstring injury on Aug. 2, Messi scored and had an impressive assist in Inter Miami’s 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy. M.L.B.: In a dramatic, 11th-inning win, the Milwaukee Brewers extended their winning streak to 14 games, setting a new franchise record. College: Five former Wisconsin women’s basketball players have filed a lawsuit against the former coach Marisa Moseley, claiming psychological abuse.
“Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run,” by Peter Ames Carlin: Fifty years ago this month, Bruce Springsteen released his third album, which still remains one of the great “musician to rock star” level-ups. Carlin, a rock biographer, has written about Paul McCartney, R.E.M., Brian Wilson and Springsteen himself in a previous book. Now he goes deep on the making of “Born to Run,” a collection of tunes on which, as our reviewer writes, Springsteen poured “all his literary and commercial aspirations into songs that unabashedly reach for sweaty glory.”
This week’s subject for The Interview is Chris Voss, a former F.B.I. lead hostage negotiator and a co-author of “Never Split the Difference,” the perennial best seller on negotiation skills. I talked with Voss about his belief that empathy is what drives effective negotiation as well as his assessment of Trump’s deal making. Earlier this year, Elon Musk said that empathy is “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” He called it a “bug” that can be manipulated. Do you give any credence to that thinking? What’s your definition of empathy? If it’s being able to articulate the other side’s point of view without agreeing with it or disagreeing with it, it’s not a weakness. Now, is it manipulation? Similar to a knife, in one person’s hand it’s a murder weapon, and in another person’s hand it’s a scalpel and saves the life. It’s an incredibly |
