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Daily Edition • Thursday, July 16

Should You Really Wait 30 Minutes to Swim After Eating?

A boy with short hair climbs down a pool ladder, ready to jump into the water. The pool is shimmering under sunlight.

Adolfo Felix/Unsplash

You Should Know: “Wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming.” That’s the classic pool rule from childhood, with the implication that if you go swimming too soon after eating that hot dog, you could get a cramp and perhaps even drown. Although that rule has stuck around for generations, the science doesn’t really support it.

Going Deeper: The theory behind the advice is that all that blood rushing to your stomach to help digest food could leave your arms and legs short on oxygen mid-swim. A small study testing this directly had swimmers either jump in right after lunch or wait 30 minutes first, and no one drowned or needed rescue. However, some people did report more discomfort when swimming right after eating, but the body apparently still had plenty of oxygen to support digestion and fuel muscles simultaneously.

Takeaway: While there’s a real risk of discomfort when swimming too soon after eating, the fear of drowning doesn’t hold up. And no major safety organization currently tells people to wait before swimming.

Bottom Line: Go ahead and swim after lunch without setting a timer if the water is calling your name.

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Here’s How to Sleep Cooler This Summer

A hand resting on soft, cream-colored bedding.

Courtesy: Miracle Made

The hard part about sleeping in summer isn’t always the heat outside. It’s the heat trapped between you and your sheets.

Miracle Made Sheets use breathable, silver-infused fibers designed to help regulate temperature, so your bed feels cooler and less stuffy through the night. The silver also helps prevent up to 99.7% of bacteria growth, which may mean fewer lingering odors and a fresher-feeling bed between washes.

They’re soft, lightweight, and made to feel more like hotel sheets than the heavy bedding you tolerate until fall. For hot sleepers, this could be the simplest upgrade in the bedroom.

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Cognitive Health

Mental Health Visits Are Rising — But That May Be Good News

Several people interact in a stylized room filled with plants and birds, showcasing a vibrant and relaxed atmosphere.

Midjourney

The Trend: Mental health visits, especially among young people, have risen sharply over the past decade — but that isn’t necessarily bad news. From 2010 to 2024, healthcare visits for symptoms of depression and anxiety increased by 66% among girls and women and 54% among boys and men, according to a new Norwegian study. Researchers say this uptick may reflect that more people are seeking help earlier and more often, rather than a true rise in mental illness.

What People Are Saying: The researchers included more than 3.7 million people and separated their medical coding into symptom codes and diagnosable disorder codes. Previous research has typically lumped them together. This helped the researchers glean more information about what was driving this increase: Visits for anxiety and depression symptoms rose by a lot, but formal diagnoses for anxiety didn’t increase significantly and stayed basically the same for depression.

What to Know: Rather than signifying a catastrophic decline in mental health, researchers say the findings show younger people have become more proactive about seeking help. They may also signal a shift over time in how physicians are coding mental health consultations, with doctors seemingly making a formal diagnosis less frequently, perhaps in an effort to reduce stigma of patients.

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Cognitive Health

Spending More Time Outside Could Reduce Dementia Risk

Four people's shadows stretch across a paved promenade and sandy ground, merging where the two surfaces meet.

Giulia Squillace/Unsplash

Sun Rays: Spending time outside is linked to a multitude of health benefits: studies show that a single trip to the woods reduces cortisol levels for a week and that nature is a major mood-booster. New research bolsters the evidence supporting nature as a brain-health boon, showing that daylight exposure could be a key in dementia prevention.

The Study: Researchers analyzed data from 87,577 adults in the UK Biobank who wore wrist devices that continuously measured their daytime and nighttime light exposure. Participants were followed for a median of 8.1 years, during which 741 people developed dementia. Higher daytime light exposure was associated with a lower risk of dementia. Average daytime light levels above 1,000 lux (roughly equivalent to an overcast day outdoors) were associated with a 16% lower dementia risk, while spending more time in very bright light (at least 5,000 lux) was linked to even greater protection. Getting less than 42 minutes of bright daylight per day emerged as a stronger predictor of dementia than established risk factors.

The Takeaway: Increasing daytime exposure to natural light could become a simple, low-cost strategy to support cognitive health.

Keep in Mind: Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that daylight directly prevents dementia. However, the findings support growing evidence that healthy circadian rhythms play an important role in brain health.

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Quick Picks

Immune Defense — These 9 everyday habits may quietly weaken your immune system.

Growing On Us — This hair treatment looks like it shouldn’t work. But it’s FDA-cleared.*

Gut Check — A massive genetic study suggests IBS may be tied to metabolism, not just the gut-brain connection.

Core Values — Here are 5 ways a stronger core can make everyday movement feel easier.

Protein Ceiling — More protein isn’t always better; here’s where the longevity benefits may start to level off.

^*Indicates a brand partnership

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What We're Cooking

Creole-Style Red Jambalaya With Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Recipe

Two bowls of shrimp and rice with colorful vegetables, accompanied by blue glasses and a striped napkin.

Courtesy: Serious Eats

Serves: 8 | Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

This New Orleans–style jambalaya is bursting with bold flavor, thanks to a rich combination of tomatoes, vegetables, and a medley of spices. Sausage, chicken, and shrimp simmer in a savory stew of crushed tomatoes, thyme, oregano, cayenne, and garlic powder before everything is combined with rice, which soaks up those aromatic and comforting tomato flavors. Baking the dish in the oven prevents the rice from burning — making this flavor-packed one-pot dish even easier to pull off.

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This, Not That

Take A Beat

A young woman stands with her eyes closed, facing upward in a sunlit forest, surrounded by blurred greenery.

THIS

Hands holding a smartphone, focused on the screen, with a blurred figure in the background.

NOT THAT

Sidath Vimukthi/Unsplash, Pongsawat Pasom/Unsplash

This: Take one slow breath before reacting
Not That: Letting every notification run your nervous system

A stressful message can make your body respond before your brain catches up. Before replying, take one slow breath. It won’t solve the problem, but it can create just enough space to answer instead of react.

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Your Bed Might Be Making Summer Nights Hotter

Heavy sheets can trap heat just when your body is trying to cool down. Miracle Made Sheets use breathable, silver-infused fabric designed to help regulate temperature and keep bedding fresher between washes. They’re soft, lightweight, and built for anyone tired of waking up overheated.

See The Sheets

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HEALTHY HABIT

Take the Slightly Harder Route

Park farther away. Take the stairs. Carry the basket instead of pushing the cart. Get off one stop early. These tiny bits of “incidental movement” don’t feel like exercise, but they add up — especially on days when a real workout isn’t happening.

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Final Thought

Mount Fuji at sunrise with clouds and reflections in a calm lake, surrounded by greenery and distant buildings.

The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

Joshua Earle/Unsplash