Health & Fitness

Aiming for a good night’s sleep starts earlier than your bedtime routine.

Forget lifespan: increasingly, healthspan – the years that we feel healthy and active – has become the holy grail among gerontologists. “You only need to watch the Veteran Games to understand the capacity of the human body to age well,” says physiotherapist Bhanu Ramaswamy.

Just as our muscles lose strength as we get older, so do our bones. This can have a serious effect on our lifestyle, and boosts risk of fractures – which are linked with an increased risk of death. Fortunately, just as we can build the strength in our muscles, we can build strength in our bones.

So… you mean, rolling out of bed, brushing my teeth, and sprinting out the door isn't the key to establishing a longevity-boosting morning routine? *She resists blurting out loud mid-interview.* Spoiler: The healthy aging expert suggests that, respectfully, no.

Some early risers might get more done, but it turns out there are times when getting up earlier can make you less productive.

This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review's weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

Sunday is the traditional day of rest and an edifying opportunity to knock off from your typical jobs and tasks (and perhaps from your devices as well). But Sundays are also awesome days to prepare for the resumption of work and weekday busyness come Monday morning.

Plenty of surprises come with the aging process (like those weird noises our joints make or the monster hangovers that follow two sips of beer). But few are more of a bummer than the way our digestive system seems to lose interest in, well, digesting things.

If you are a normal person who even occasionally reads or listens to the news, you’ve probably wondered when, and not if, the world is going to end.

On April 18 in New York City, a parking garage in lower Manhattan collapsed, killing one person—the garage’s manager, Willis Moore.