Today’s Big Story

Move More, Live Longer

A low-tech solution to increase your longevity

We all want to live longer, healthier lives. But the quest to extend human’s longevity often seems complicated and/or expensive. You can rely on the routine tests and measurements your doctor likes to order for you, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, weight and so on. Or you can go down a biohacking rabbit hole the way tech millionaire turned longevity guru Bryan Johnson did to live longer. Johnson’s obsessive self-measurement protocol involves tracking more than a hundred biomarkers, ranging from the telomere length in blood cells to the speed of his urine stream (which, at 25 milliliters per second, he reports, is in the 90th percentile of 40-year-olds).

But, perhaps there’s a simpler option. The goal of self-measurement is to scrutinize which factors truly predict longevity, so that you can try to change them before it’s too late. A new study from biostatisticians at the University of Colorado, Johns Hopkins University, and several other institutions crunched data from the long-running National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), comparing the predictive power of 15 potential longevity markers.

The winner—a better predictor than having diabetes or heart disease, receiving a cancer diagnosis, or even how old you are—was the amount of physical activity you perform in a typical day, as measured by a wrist tracker. The message to remember is: Move or die.

As Outside points out, it’s “hardly revolutionary to suggest that exercise is good for you, of course. But the fact that people continue to latch on to ever more esoteric minutiae suggests that we continue to undersell its benefits.” That might be a data problem, at least in part. It’s famously hard to quantify how much you move in a given day, and early epidemiological studies tended to rely on surveys in which people were asked to estimate how much they exercised.

But this new set of data proves that getting as active as the top 25% of the U.S. population could extend your life by five years, at least. “I was surprised to find that the loss of life years in the USA due to low levels of physical activity might rival the losses due to smoking and high blood pressure,” senior study author Dr. Lennert Veerman told CNN. The findings “suggest sort of what we’ve already known, which is that physical activity is pretty critical to improve health outcomes (and) improve longevity.”

All this suggests that the hype about wearable fitness trackers over the past decade or so might be justified. Wrist-worn accelerometers like Apple Watches, Fitbits, and Whoop bands, according to the new data, are tracking the single most powerful predictor of your future health. So consider wearing one and listening when it reminds you to stand and get in those steps.

Notre Dame Is Finally Ready to Reopen

The cathedral will have solemn rituals, grand opera, heads of state and high security

Five years after the world watched the most famous cathedral burn in a devastating fire, Notre Dame is set to reopen this weekend. In the wake of the disaster, French President Emmanuel Macron made the ambitious pledge to restore the church within five years. On Friday, he praised hundreds of artisans, carpenters and other specialists for helping him “keep this promise” during his final site visit.

The restoration was a huge (and expensive) undertaking, with final estimates ringing in at more than $758 million. And the reopening looks to be just as impressive: It kicks off with a ceremony on Saturday, followed by eight days of special masses and prayers. Police chief Laurent Nuñez told the Associated Press that about 50 heads of state and government officials are expected at the reopening events and that security arrangements are drawing on the police measures that sealed off large sections of central Paris this summer for the Olympic opening ceremony.

The event is designed to “breathe life” back into Notre Dame. High points will be the ritualized reopening of the cathedral’s massive doors, the reawakening of its thunderous organ and the celebration of the first Mass. For both France and the Catholic Church, the televised and tightly scripted ceremonies will be an opportunity to display can-do resilience and global influence.

The End of an Era

The biggest tour of the 21st century is coming to an end. Will concerts ever be the same?

Whether you’re a Swiftie or not, there’s no denying that Taylor Swift is having a big moment. If she were her own musical genre, she’d be bigger than jazz. Swift currently accounts for nearly 2% of the U.S. music market, according to data-tracker Luminate—more than any other artist. Even in today’s splintered media landscape, where top acts can go unnoticed by swaths of the public, she’s a cultural phenomenon on par with Michael Jackson in the 1980s and the Beatles in the 1960s.

What transformed this 30-something country-turned-pop singer into a musical deity? The Eras Tour. The global, stadium-sized odyssey has fueled the most inescapable, all-consuming music mania of the 21st century. This weekend, after five continents, roughly 10 million tickets and revenue that could be around $2 billion (based on ticket-sales figures), the trek finally comes to a close with a show in Vancouver, Canada on Dec. 8th.

Music executives tell the Wall Street Journal that Swift has raised the bar for the concert industry, not just with ticket and merchandise sales, but conceptual ambition, stage production, wardrobe and news-cycle penetration. Throughout the tour, Swift was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. Apple Music named her its artist of the year and Spotify revealed she was 2023’s (and 2024’s) most streamed artist globally. She dropped a box office-topping concert film and helped send NFL viewership skyrocketing when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Toward the end of the tour, she released a coffee table book. So maybe she’s ready for a break.

A Weekend Pairing

‘Black Dove’ + an Undercover Lover Cocktail

Looking for something juicy to stream to escape the crush of typical holiday content? Keira Knightly’s new Netflix series introduces her as the wife of an important politician and an undercover spy working for a secret organization known as the Black Doves. After the death of her secret lover (played by the steely Andrew Koji), she’s drawn into a real twisty mystery that she seeks to unravel alongside her friend and coworker assassin Sam (played by Ben Whishaw).

Reviews for the series have been stellar, too, with Variety calling it “intriguing” and says with “a snowy London, Christmas lights and holiday music as a backdrop, the show has swirls of comedy woven throughout the high-voltage action.” Decider calls it a “must-stream” show thanks to both the deeply woven story and chemistry between the characters.

The Best Health & Fitness Gifts for Active People

What to give the gym rat, sports fan or athlete in your life

Trying to figure out what to get someone for the holiday season is no small task. Especially if you can't spoil them with sugary sweets or a luxurious sweater. For the athlete in your life who takes their health seriously (or if you're looking to beat the New Year's resolution crowd yourself), we've picked out some solid gift ideas. From the best gym shoes on the market and a sleek water bottle to a vibrating deep-tissue massage gun and recovery slides to relieve the soreness—we think these options will perform well (no pun intended).

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