How Being Alone May Be the Key to Rest

How much rest do we think we need, who is getting the most, and what are the most restful activities? The results of the world’s largest survey on rest indicate that to feel truly rested, a lot of us want to be alone, reports Claudia Hammond.Read more

Voyages Visual Journeys By Six Photographers

The appeal of the road trip, or the long through-hike, or the pilgrimage, is that the ‘‘point’’ is so deliberately minimal — to arrive at, you know, the end — and the decisions involved so banal (stop for gas now, or in a bit?) that the distinction between signal and noise is blurred. The point of a photograph of a trail, or some billboard half-seen out the window of a bus, is that it could easily be exchanged for the image taken immediately before or immediately afterward. The random sample communicates in one unpremeditated frame all the significance that particular person’s drive down that particular road could possibly contain. This is the aspiration common to road-trip literature and road-trip photography: The moment at the gas station is held, insistently, to express as much about the total experience as the shot of the Eiffel Tower. Read more

Question Everything You Know About Fitness

Whether you’re an elite athlete or a restless desk jockey, there are better way to achieve your goals. Just ask 4-Hour guru Tim Ferriss, who started quizzing the world’s greatest performers on their routines as a side project—and ended up with a whole new approach to training. Read more

The man who invented relaxation

People suffering from stress can tackle it in various ways – from counselling sessions to yoga classes or listening to mindfulness CDs. But it’s only recently that sleeping and doing very little – the ways human beings have always rested – have come to be seen as an insufficient response to life’s difficulties. Read more