[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] CHESTNUT RIDGE, N.Y. — The mother of an unvaccinated child here in the New York suburbs says eating papaya helps to combat measles. The father of another child who has not been immunized believes that big pharmaceutical companies are…
Are you sabotaging your sleep in your quest to improve it? Many new tools are becoming available to monitor your sleep or help you achieve better sleep: wearable watches and bands; “nearable” devices that you can place on your bed or nightstand; and apps that work by monitoring biometric data, noise and movement. They can…
For decades, many African women in need of birth control they could use in secret have relied on intramuscular hormone injections that prevent pregnancy for three months. But in recent years, women have been terrified — and family planning officials frustrated — as studies suggested that women using injectables were far more likely to get…
Send questions about the office, money, careers and work-life balance to workfriend@nytimes.com. Include your name and location, even if you want them withheld. Letters may be edited. How Can I Reject an Invitation I Don’t Receive? How should I feel about not being invited to after-work socializing? My boss and most of my co-workers are…
It’s a medical fact: Spending time outdoors, especially in green spaces, is good for you. A wealth of research indicates that escaping to a neighborhood park, hiking through the woods, or spending a weekend by the lake can lower a person’s stress levels, decrease blood pressure and reduce the risk asthma, allergies, diabetes and cardiovascular…
Jocón, a Guatemalan stew, can be so green you’d imagine it had its own Pantone color. As with many Central American stews with Mayan origins, called recados, its body is thickened with ground seeds. When freshly made, it feels almost frothy. At Ix in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, the broth varies in color, but always…
I have become my father. I don’t mean I’m short-tempered, overly particular about petty things or obsessed with finding cheap gasoline, although these are all traits he passed on to me. I mean I can’t walk. Unlike my father, my condition is temporary — I fractured my ankle on an ill-advised descent down an icy…
A small sign outside “Nancy Spero: Paper Mirror” at MoMA PS1 says “this exhibition may not be suitable for all audiences.” Fair enough, since the show contains some abstract, impressionistic depictions of Vietnam War atrocities and some garden-variety nudity. But when you think of the importance of her work in this moment, the sign also…
The mood is blue in the new paintings of Lorna Simpson. Blue like glaciers in polar night. Blue like a frigid ocean. Blue like premonition, blue like the blues. “Dark times, to me, mean dark paintings,” the artist said recently, in her spacious new studio at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Big, brooding landscapes, up to…
There is a close link between lifestyle choices, such as diet and exercise, and a person’s weight. Researchers now identify another factor as they report that sleeping with a light or television on puts women at higher risk of becoming overweight or obese. Can sleeping with the lights on influence our weight? How much a…