Setting Up Your Home Office

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Cardio Load calculation is a metric the Fitbit app uses to suggest how much Pixel Watch and Fitbit users should exercise, but it can be hard to understand. It's also recently been updated for the new version of the app, and it works a bit differently there. Here's how you should use this number, and what it means to hit your target. What is cardio load?Cardio load is a way of understanding how much exercise you’ve been doing, whether the app logged it as a workout or not. Exercising for a longer time, and exercising at a higher intensity, both increase your cardio load. For example, on a day that you go for a five-mil…

This post is part of our Home Remedy Handbook, a tour of the landscape of home remedies from the iffy to the doctor-approved. Read more here. Thanks to a loophole in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, some of the “drugs” you can buy at pharmacies are actually nothing but magic water. I am, I promise, not exaggerating. I don’t mean supplements, which are legal because they are considered to be not drugs. And I don’t mean foods that make iffy or overblown health claims (nothing as boring as that). I mean that you can walk into a pharmacy and pay seven dollars of legal tender for a “natural” kids cold & cough remedy and walk away with a bottle of mostly wa…

If the phrase “lift with your legs” never made any sense to you, you’re not alone. Trying to follow this advice can feel awkward, unnatural, and ineffective—even though it’s not wrong, exactly. One 1993 study showed that even when warehouse workers had been trained to “lift with the legs,” and even when they said they were doing their best to follow the instructions, in most cases it was pretty much impossible to lift in the textbook manner. Why everyone wants you to lift with your legsThe main point of lifting with your legs is to avoid one particular mistake: rounding your lower back so forcefully that you’re putting yourself at risk for a herniated disc. If you lift s…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I spent the last month testing and reviewing the Garmin Forerunner 970, and my biggest disappointment (one of only a few) was that I couldn't use it to test my running economy, since it requires a heart rate monitor like Garmin's HRM-600 chest strap. At the same time, it does lend a lot of legitimacy to Garmin's running economy metric, knowing it requires key inputs like heart rate, stride length, ground contract time, vertical oscillation, and step speed loss. "Running economy" has a lot of buzz around it right now. When I asked a running coach (who happens to be a good friend) what separates two athletes with identical c…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Exercise is a healthy and, one might argue, necessary part of our lives. The guidelines from public health organizations tell you to aim for at least 150 minutes of “moderate” exercise each week, and that each minute of “vigorous” exercise counts double. That raises the question: What the hell is “moderate” exercise? How do you know when you’re doing it? Scientists measure METs, but you don't have to If you have any kind of smartwatch or fitness tracker, it may try to tell you that "moderate" exercise occurs at a certain heart rate. This isn't actually the case. The scientists who came up with the exercise guidelines didn…

For over a year, I’ve been on a mission to declutter and elevate my wardrobe by replacing all of my cheap accessories with nicer versions—my own spin on the “one in, one out” cleaning method. Since I’m not made of money and largely stick to buying pre-owned luxury goods, it’s extra sustainable, which makes me feel good about the whole thing. The problem with buying pre-owned stuff, though, is that it’s usually pre-worn—like, really worn. I don’t blame my items’ previous caretakers when I get shoes, a bag, sunglasses, or a scarf that looks like it’s seen some horrors in its prime; if I spent top dollar on something, I’d run it into the ground to get every cent's worth, to…

We’re living through a full-fledged skinny epidemic. Even if seeing celebrities get thinner and thinner doesn’t mean anything to you, notice how marketing for various weight loss products is getting increasingly ubiquitous. When I look around, the onslaught doesn’t stop with all the ads for GLP-1s. What has really caught my eye recently is how I—a fitness writer who happens to be pretty thin—keep receiving targeted ads for different types of “AI body scans.” These services take a few different forms (which I dive into below), but what they all try to sell is the same idea: Apparently, I don’t know enough about my body. It turns out I need to know my body fat percentage, m…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you have a Fitbit, or if you use the Fitbit app with a compatible device like a Pixel watch, you’ve probably seen “zone minutes” or "active zone minutes" pop up on your screen. So what exactly are active zone minutes, and how do they compare to the other ways we measure exercise, like steps? Zone minutes relate to the U.S. Physical Activity GuidelinesBefore we get into how zone minutes are measured, I think it will be most useful to look at why we’re counting up minutes at all. Fitbit’s purpose here is actually pretty neat: They’re trying to give you an automated way of telling whether you are keeping up with public h…

Heart rate zones are a way to describe how hard you're working during a cardio workout, like running or cycling. The faster your heart beats, the harder you're working. So an easy jog might have you in zone 2 for a whole workout, while a HIIT workout might have you bouncing between zones 1 and 5. Read on for a breakdown of what heart rate zones are, how to use them, and some of the caveats you should know when you're training this way. One quick thing before we dive in: heart rate zones are for cardio. Cardio means exercise that involves doing the same rhythmic movement over and over, like running or swimming or stair climbing. Heart rate zones mean nothing for strength …

We’ve been using passwords to protect our various accounts for a few decades now, and, to be honest, we’re not very good at it. Many of us use the same simple, easy to remember passwords for all of our accounts—convenient for logging in, but horrible for security. Not only will a bad actor (or computer) be able to guess that password easily, they’ll try it against your other accounts. Before you know it, you have multiple breaches, some of which may involve financial or private information. There are a number of steps you can take to beef up your password security, of course. First, you can use a complex and unique password for each of your accounts, making sure to never…

You may have heard dumbbell exercises are better than barbell ones because they work more of your “stabilizers,” or that free weights are better than machines for the same reason. But what are stabilizer muscles? And do you really need specific exercises to train them? It turns out there are a lot of misconceptions around this term, so let me set things straight. What are stabilizer muscles?This is going to get fuzzy, because there isn’t really agreement on what stabilizer muscles even are. This 2014 study searched the literature for mentions of stabilizer muscles and attempted to put together a definition. Here’s what they came up with: "muscles that contribute to joint …

Cardio is good for us. We need both cardio and strength training for basic health, as well as our athletic goals. But what actually counts as cardio? Can you count walking? Lifting weights? Anything so long as you’re in the right zone? Let me break it down. What is the definition of cardio? Trick question! “Cardio” is a nickname for a certain rough category of exercise, and it doesn't have a precise definition. You’ll find different definitions of it depending on who you ask, and a lot of the research on the benefits of cardio just calls it “exercise." The closest technical term is "aerobic activity." The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans describes aerobic acti…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You can add Walmart to the list of retail behemoths hosting spring-time sales, joining the likes of Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, who each have similar sales around the same time. Here is everything you need to know about Walmart's upcoming Super Savings Week sale. When is Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart will run its spring sale for a full week from March 25 to March 31. Do you need to be a member to shop for Walmart's Super Savings Week?Walmart has a Walmart+ membership that goes $12.95 per month or $98 per year (you can always get a free 30-day trial), but Walmart hasn't yet said if its sale is exclusively for memb…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Spring hasn’t really been as big of an online shopping season, comparatively speaking: We've got Prime Day during the summer, October Prime Day and Black Friday during the fall, and a bunch of holiday sales during winter. But that might be changing with the recent Big Spring Sale from Amazon, in its second year. Target has decided to compete for your money as well with a Circle Week event, coming later this month. What is Target's Circle Week?Circle Week is Target’s name for its biggest sale, which used to happen once a year but, much to the dismay of Target workers, now happens multiple times a year. Usually, you’ll see …

Fresh produce is probably one of the greatest gifts we can enjoy from nature. Call me a tree-hugger, but plants are seriously incredible. I don’t have a proper garden at the moment—it’s a north-facing potted plant set-up on my balcony—but if you’ve ever grown vegetables or even flowers from seeds, you know what I mean. Plants make gigantic blooms and fruit out of dirt and sunshine. That’s magic, and we reap the benefits. In this monthly article, I'll take a look at the fruits and veggies coming into season and some recipes you can use them in. As for this month: It's been spring for a while but it finally feels like it. And after a long winter, greens and a few fruits ar…

New products tend to add features, not take them away. That isn't always the case with Apple, however. The company has a long history of removing functions from one generation of devices to the next, whether that's removing the disc drive from its MacBooks back in 2012, or taking away the iPhone's Home button in 2017. Some of these changes are good, some are controversial, while others are undone altogether: MagSafe and HDMI both found their way back to MacBooks after all. It's not often I hear about Apple removing software features from one generation of product to the next, however. So, imagine my surprise when I saw a number of headlines this morning asserting that the…

Identity thieves are now using college enrollment to take out student loans in victims' names. This so-called "ghost student" scam capitalizes on limited verification for online class sign-ups and the federal aid application process to steal millions in funds while assigning the debt to unsuspecting targets. I personally have been a victim of this scam, which I discovered only after an outstanding student loan debt landed on my credit report in 2024. Here's how the scheme works. 'Ghost student' scam relies on stolen identitiesTo run this scam, fraudsters use stolen or fake identities to enroll "ghost students" in online classes while also applying for federal student ai…

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury found both Meta and YouTube negligent for their failure to warn their users about potential dangers associated with their apps and services. Specifically, the jury found that Meta and YouTube "harmed" a young user, a now 20-year-old identified as K.G.M., via addictive features that led to the user's "mental health distress." Meta and YouTube are now on the hook for $3 million in damages. Meta will pay the majority of the sum (70%, or $2.1 million), while YouTube will pay the remaining 30% ($900,000). It's a landmark case that could have wide-ranging repercussions for all social media platforms. What was the Meta/YouTube social media case…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Besides measuring heart rate and other metrics like steps, pretty much every fitness tracker and smartwatch measures heart rate variability, abbreviated as HRV. This measurement is the basis for recovery scores and stress readings, and you can usually find it as a standalone measurement in the “vitals” section of your chosen app. So let’s break down what this number actually measures, and how to interpret yours. HRV is heart rate variabilityHRV stands for heart rate variability, but that doesn’t mean what y…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. While I was covering CES, the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, I gave myself a side quest: try on every exoskeleton I could find. I kept seeing them at booths and events, promising to help me walk farther without fatigue, or reach my athletic potential as I'm (judging from their marketing videos) sprinting up a mountain. I ended up testing six of them—four assisted me at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. Exoskeletons first landed on my radar as I was considering products for the Best of CES awards. I was helping to judge "age tech"—devices designed to help people as they age—and devices that assist…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’ve used a lot of fitness wearables, but none have been a constant presence in my life for as long as the Oura ring. I woke up to my first night of collected data on November 3, 2020, and I’ve worn an Oura ring nearly every night since. Here's what I've learned from over 1,500 days worth of data, including my thoughts on the hardware, the app, and on whether it's all been worth it. Oura Ring 4 $349.00 at Ama…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’ve heard new parents say things like “I can’t even remember what my life was like before the birth of my child.” Well, I don’t have children, but I’m pretty sure I can relate: I can’t remember my life before my Instant Vortex air fryer. I’ve been using this helpful appliance for three years now, and things have only gotten better since. In my kitchen, anyway. I originally got the Instant Vortex 5.7-quart so I could write more recipes for Thanksgiving food coverage. I didn’t particularly want an air fryer—how much could a small countertop oven possibly help with Thanksgiving, I thought, let alone day-to-day cooking? Why …

The easy availability of powerful generative AI programs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other image- and music-generation tools has given everyone the ability to instantly "create" any image, video, or song they can imagine. As the resulting flood of computer-made content washes up on shore, internet users and observers are calling it "slopcore." Also known as "AI slop," slopcore's aesthetic comes from people using AI as a collaborator instead of a tool, leaving the machines to make artistic choices. It's marked by the strangely off, the almost-real, and the uncanny vibe of machines imitating humanity. Slopcore often depicts deeply emotional subjects, but the lack of depth and…

TikTok's having a rough 2026. The app recently switched ownership from the Chinese-based ByteDance to the new "TikTok USDS Joint Venture," which, as the name implies, is a majority American-owned business entity. Any changing of the guard comes with the risk for disruptions and issues, but it seems TikTok's problems have gone beyond the usual rocky transition. First, the app itself went down, which the company attributed to a power outage at a data center. Then, users accused the platform of updating its terms of service with aggressive new tracking, blocking certain content types, and "shadowbanning" new posts from some users. It's still not clear exactly what's going o…

Gone are the days of blaming an entire generation's money problems on avocado toast. In fact, the stereotype of "millennial money problems" may not be quite what it seems in the first palce. Millennial wealth in the U.S. has nearly quadrupled since 2019, according to Federal Reserve data. And yet, time and time again, millennials report feeling financially insecure. This disconnect between numerical wealth and actual financial wellbeing has been termed "phantom wealth—money that exists in theory, but it doesn't translate to a sense of security or freedom in daily life. Here's why millennials might still be feeling financially vulnerable, and how you can regain a sense of…