More Than Meets the Eye

Sunday · 7:44 AM ET · Better Habits. Healthier Habitat.

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Every 7 days, we begin here with 4x4 box breathing.

Soften your jaw. Let your tongue relax from the roof of your mouth. Drop your shoulders. Take one round, or stay for a few until you feel grounded.

Inhale 4 sec · Hold 4 sec
Exhale 4 sec · Hold 4 sec

Welcome back to The Nest
National Park Week is underway, and the National Park Service turns 110 on Tuesday. If you’re near a national park, entrance fees are waived for U.S. citizens and residents on August 25.

A line to carry
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin

In today’s digest, we’ll be discussing:

Screenshots have become a second memory. A recipe you want to make, a restaurant recommendation, a quote you like, a flight confirmation. Save it now, remember it later. But new research suggests the act of capturing something may actually make us less likely to remember it ourselves.

Binghamton University researchers ran seven experiments exploring what they call the “digital capture effect.” People who photographed or screenshotted information tended to remember it less well afterward when they never went back and reviewed what they saved. The pattern resembles the already documented “photo-taking impairment effect.”

There is an important exception: saved images can help memory when we actually return to them. The problem may be the thousands of things we capture and never look at again. The takeaway: if something really matters, don’t just screenshot it. Read it twice, write down the important part, put the date in your calendar, or actually revisit what you saved.

The elevator may save you a minute, but taking the stairs gives your body something surprisingly valuable in return. Stair climbing requires you to repeatedly move your own weight against gravity, turning something as ordinary as getting to the next floor into a short burst of vigorous activity.

Researchers pooled nine studies involving 480,479 adults and found that people who regularly climbed stairs had a 39% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 24% lower risk of dying from any cause compared with people who didn’t. They were also less likely to experience heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. The research followed participants for a median of 14 years.

That doesn’t mean stairs themselves guarantee a longer life. The studies were observational, and people who regularly take the stairs may also be more active or healthier in other ways. Researchers also don’t yet know the ideal number of flights to climb. But the larger lesson is refreshingly simple, meaningful movement doesn’t always need its own workout clothes or an hour on your calendar.
The takeaway: when the stairs are a realistic option, take them. Those little bursts of effort may add up more than they feel like they do.

Endometriosis is usually talked about in terms of pelvic pain, periods and fertility. But a massive new study suggests its effects may reach further. Women with endometriosis were 46% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women without the condition.

Researchers analyzed health records from nearly 3 million women over 25 years, making it the largest study yet to examine the connection. The association was actually strongest among premenopausal women and women without obesity, groups that might not otherwise be considered at especially high risk for type 2 diabetes. Certain forms of endometriosis outside the pelvis were linked with an even greater risk.

The study cannot prove endometriosis causes diabetes, and researchers are still working out what might connect the two. One possibility is the chronic inflammation associated with endometriosis, which may have effects beyond the reproductive system. The takeaway: endometriosis may be a whole-body condition with longer-term health implications that deserve attention well beyond periods and fertility.

Which of these sends the strongest signal to your brain's internal 24-hour clock?

A. When you eat your first meal

B. When you exercise

C. When you're exposed to light

D. When your body temperature rises

Answer below ↓

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are best known for reducing appetite. But researchers are increasingly interested in another effect. People taking them have also reported less desire for alcohol and other rewarding substances, suggesting the drugs may influence the brain systems behind craving.

One area getting attention is the lateral septum, a region connected to memory and reward. Recent animal research found that activating GLP-1 receptors there could reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related reward. Early human trials of semaglutide have also found reductions in heavy drinking.

The bigger idea may go beyond Ozempic. Craving appears to involve memories, surroundings, anticipation and reward, not just willpower. The takeaway: these drugs may be giving researchers a new window into why certain foods, drinks and habits can feel so hard to resist.

🛏️ There’s a reason you may sleep terribly on the first night of vacation. In an unfamiliar place, part of the brain can stay more vigilant instead of fully settling into sleep, known as the first-night effect. If something important is planned, arriving a night early may help.

🍊 Taking vitamin C once a cold starts probably isn’t doing what you think. Starting it after symptoms appear has shown little benefit, while regular use may shorten severe symptoms by only about 10%. Vitamin C may help a little, but it isn’t a cold cure.

📱 “Screen time” may be too simple a way to think about screens. An eight-year study found more cumulative screen exposure was linked with better cognitive processing in teenagers. What kids are doing on screens may matter more than the total number of hours.

🧠 Your brain has its own nighttime cleanup system, and exercise may help it work. The glymphatic system helps clear waste during sleep, and a new review suggests exercise may support that cleanup process through better sleep, circulation and lower inflammation.

🌙 For night workers, two hours on the clock may make a real difference. Emergency physicians who shifted overnight work from 10 p.m.–6 a.m. to 8 p.m.–4 a.m. slept better and showed healthier inflammation markers. Sleep timing may matter alongside sleep duration.

Dr. Anita Sadaty is a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician who focuses on women’s health through every stage of life. On Instagram, she breaks down topics like hormones, perimenopause, menopause, sexual health, sleep and nutrition, often connecting symptoms to the bigger picture of whole-body health.

Why follow: She brings a physician’s perspective to women’s health questions that are often confusing or overlooked, with practical explanations that make it easier to understand what may be happening in your body.

Follow her here:

Instagram @drsadaty ↗
Website DrSadaty.com ↗

C. When you're exposed to light

Meals, exercise and temperature can all influence circadian rhythms, but light is the strongest environmental time cue, or zeitgeber, for the human circadian system. The timing of that light matters too.

Try this week:
Pay attention to your light environment at both ends of the day: brighter natural light after waking, less bright light as bedtime gets closer.

Fruit
🍑 Peaches · Blackberries · Raspberries
🍉 Watermelon · 🍈 Cantaloupe · Nectarines · Plums · 🍇 Grapes · Figs · 🍎 Apples · 🍐 Pears

Vegetables
🍅 Tomatoes · 🌽 Sweet corn · 🥒 Cucumbers · 🫑 Bell peppers · 🍆 Eggplant · Green beans · Zucchini · Summer squash · Okra · 🧅 Onions · Tomatillos · 🌿 Fresh herbs

_{Seasonal availability may vary by region and growing conditions.}

If this brought a little calm or clarity to your Sunday morning, send it to someone who would appreciate it too.

If this week’s quote resonated with you, reply with one of your favorites.

We’ll choose one reader submission for next week’s line to carry.