Field Notes is my monthly post. Studies that stuck, a book to read, a national park I hiked, a health thing you should skip, and one thing I’m trying that science supports. Plus a Number worth knowing and something Noted.
A book of one-star reviews. That’s what I’m reading.
Subpar Parks, by Amber Share. Art of a national park along with it’s one-star review. A few:
Sequoia: “There are bugs and they will bite you on your face.”
Yosemite: “Trees block view and there are too many gray rocks.”
Grand Canyon: “A hole. A very, very large hole.”
How can people give America’s Best Idea one-star reviews?
It’s a book about national parks. But also a book about attention. What you bring to a place decides what you get from it.
I finally made it to Gateway Arch National Park. It gets a version of the same complaint. Not “trees block the view.” More like is this even a national park? Details below.
This month: cardio and weights are stronger together. What the evidence says about blue-light glasses. And why Gateway Arch doesn’t feel like a national park.
Studies that stuck.
Strong = replicated, large sample · Preliminary = early stage, interpret with caution.
Cardio and weights are stronger together - Strong
A study followed more than 147,000 people for up to 30 years. High aerobi activity and 1–2 hours of weekly resistance training were linked to up to 45% lower risk of death compared to doing little of either.
Why it matters: Move more. Lift too. Neither one alone gets you there. The combination is what does the most work.
Fir-scent breathing eased anxiety and lowered blood pressure in menopausal women - Preliminary
26 menopausal women used a diffuser with fir essential oil in their bedroom for one week. Their blood pressure and anxiety dropped and sleep and mood improved.
Why it matters: Promising. But small, and no control group. Some of this could be the ritual, not the oil. Worth watching, not worth a nightstand overhaul yet.
A popular claim checked against the evidence.
Blue-light blocking glasses probably aren’t doing much for your sleep
A 2025 review pooled three well-designed trials. No real difference for how fast people fell asleep, sleep quality, and how they felt the next day. Glasses or not.
The theory holds. Blue light at night can suppress melatonin. But the trials that tested the glasses didn’t find the benefit people are paying for.
Why it matters: If bluelight glasses work for you then keep wearing them. Just don’t count on them alone. Dimming the lights and putting the phone down may do more.
Gateway Arch National Park — St. Louis, Missouri
I struggle with Gateway Arch being a national park.
It started in 1935 as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Named for Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, not the Arch, which didn’t exist yet.
Then in 2018, the name changed to Gateway Arch National Park. The National Park Service had recommended against it. Their preference was National Monument, the standard label for a site this size with no natural land. They were overruled.
The new name feels off. Airport-style secuity to get in. An underground museum with touchscreen exhibits. Tram capsules that haul you up through the Arch like an amusement park ride. Impressive. But it felt more like an attraction than wilderness.
91 acres, no natural land. The smallest national park and the only one that’s entirely man-made.
The Arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at the base.
The world’s tallest arch. Calculated entirely by hand. Each leg was built separately, and had to meet at the top within 1/64 of an inch, or the two sides wouldn’t connect. Crews only measured at night because daytime sun warmed the steel enough to throw off the math.
One thing I’m trying that’s supported by science.
Ten minutes with a warm eye mask. Or thirty with a warm wrap around the neck. Both deepened sleep. Not just how people felt, but what showed up on an EEG - a scan that tracks brain waves.
Eight men with mild sleep trouble tried both, at home, over several nights. Warming the skin to about 104°F improved sleep quality and deep sleep.
The theory: warming that skin pulls blood to the surface, sheds heat, and drops core temperature faster.
Eight people is small. This one’s preliminary. But it lines up with other research on skin warming and sleep.
I’ve started wearing a warm eye mask for the first ten minutes in bed. Cheap, easy, no downside.
3:42.66
Josh Kerr ran the fastest mile ever recorded, on July 18. He broke a record that stood for 27 years.
Cape Verde showed up.
An island nation of under 600,000 people, playing in its first-ever World Cup this year. Their goalkeeper, Vozinha, is 40 years old. That’s a full decade past when most players retire. He was one of the tournament’s breakout stars.
Spain won it, beating Argentina 1-0. and became the first country to hold both the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at once. That’s the headline.
But Cape Verde is a story worth telling.
Facts, no fluff — Heather
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