Mandy Oaklander | September 14, 2026

Do you wear shoes in your house? I do, even though I know I shouldn’t. I'm not even talking about a dedicated pair of indoor shoes (a very good idea, in fact). I walk around out in the world wherever I please—the sidewalk, the bus, the nearby farm, even—and then waltz inside with nary a care.

That stops today.

A reader emailed us recently about whether taking off your shoes indoors is worth the hassle. My colleague Jeffrey Kluger looked into it, and in his new piece for TIME, he found out exactly what your shoes are tracking inside.

Reading his story persuaded me to switch to a no-shoes household. Though I’m still not sure what to do about my dog’s four paws and the places they’ve been.

TODAY’S TOPICS

The health benefits of stress
Time to rethink your nightlight
A troubling rise in dengue fever

QUICK CHAT

Can stress actually be good for you?

I recently called Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard physician and stress expert, to talk about caregiver stress. About halfway through our conversation, she casually mentioned something that made my ears perk up: Not all stress is bad for you. There’s even a type of stress that can help move your life forward.

As someone who spends a lot of time feeling stressed, I needed to hear more. —Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Malte Mueller—Getty Images

Wait—there’s such a thing as good stress?

Yes. In science, we call good stress “adaptive stress” and bad stress “maladaptive stress.” When you say, “I’m so stressed. It’s been a stressful week or month”—or, for many of us, a stressful five years—you’re usually describing maladaptive stress. That’s the kind associated with the mental and physical-health consequences we typically think about when we hear the word “stress.”

So what does good stress feel like?

Good stress moves your life forward. There’s a sense of momentum. It could be getting a promotion, rooting for your favorite sports team, planning a vacation, or preparing for an event you’re excited about. Your brain and body respond differently to different types of stress.

Can something positive really be stressful for your body?

Absolutely. Stress doesn't necessarily mean something bad is happening. Think about getting a promotion or planning a vacation. Those experiences can create stress, but they're also moving your life forward. That's very different from the chronic, maladaptive stress that wears you down.

So is the goal to become less stressed?

I think it’s about transforming your relationship with stress—moving away from unhealthy stress and resetting back toward healthy stress, so that stress can serve you rather than harm you. Right now, unfortunately, many of us are spending far too much time in the waters of bad stress.

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TODAY I LEARNED

Even dim light at night might hurt your heart

Edwin Tan—Getty Images

A little light in the bedroom always seemed fairly innocuous to me. But research keeps suggesting that our bodies may fare better in total darkness when we’re asleep, which is how we evolved.

A new study I just wrote about found that people who have dim lights on at night tend to have more structural changes in their heart than those with less nighttime light exposure. These changes imply that the heart has to work harder when nights are spent in dim light rather than darkness. —Veronique Greenwood, Staff Writer

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WHAT WE’RE READING

A scientist recently said on a popular podcast that bananas block the health benefits of blueberries. But this isn’t something to worry about, writes Adrienne Matei for the Guardian. Instead of micromanaging your food combinations, just focus on eating a varied diet.
Sleeping in can help make up for some of the damage inflicted by getting too little sleep—but it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card, writes Amanda Ruggeri at BBC Future.
A record number of people in Tampa Bay have contracted dengue fever this summer, writes Lane DeGregory for the Tampa Bay Times.

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