Little Things that Matter Your LIFE: The easiest ways to sit less and move more

Mandy Oaklander | August 04, 2026

Hi readers! Reset vibes are in the air. I was inspired by our health newsletter reboot this week to relaunch my fitness journey that has long been dormant. Well, maybe “fitness journey” is too lofty a description. It’s more like a personal mission to interrupt my long stretches of sitting.

My daily goal is a walk around the neighborhood with my dog. But I don’t always have a spare 30 minutes. (Sorry, pup.) I wondered: what else can I do? A story we recently published offers some manageable ideas, like standing up and sitting down 10 times. Go ahead and try it. I feel the burn.

TODAY’S TOPICS

A troubling stat
A nicer way to say “turn it down!”
The downside of cold showers

BIG NUMBER

25%

The amount by which international funding from governments to HIV/AIDS organizations dropped in 2025, according to a recent report released at the International AIDS Conference in Brazil.

Drastic cuts in U.S. global health commitments are largely driving that decline. While new HIV/AIDS infections and deaths are now at 30-year lows, thanks to new treatments and prevention therapies, the funding drop threatens this progress. —Alice Park

SOURCE: UNAIDS and KFF

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PLEASE ADVISE

Here’s a great question we received from a reader:

Q: I never know what to say to someone who is watching something loud on their phone without using headphones—in an airport, a cafe, anywhere. I chicken out every time.

A: I love this question, mostly because I’ve chickened out too. I still remember sitting at an airport gate while someone watched video after video at full volume—and instead of asking them to turn it down, I silently stewed, then relocated with all my bags.

So I called up Nicole Del Valle Rose, a Las Vegas etiquette consultant, who spends her days coaching people through exactly this kind of moment.

Her first suggestion was two words I didn't expect: move seats. "Etiquette isn’t about correcting every behavior that bothers us," she says. If you're in a coffee shop and there's an open table across the room, taking it solves the problem in four seconds and spares everybody an awkward exchange.

When you're stuck—like on a plane, in a waiting room, or on the train—she says a polite ask is completely fair, and short is better than righteous. Try something like this: "Excuse me. Would you mind using headphones if you have them? I'd really appreciate it." It works because it assumes the best about them, and most people truly have no idea how far the sound is carrying.

If they say no, let it go. "Good etiquette isn’t about winning every interaction," she says. –Angela Haupt

Got a social dilemma of your own? Send it our way to healthmatters@time.com, and we may tackle it in a future edition.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

An ice-cold shower might make it harder—not easier—to cool down and fall asleep. For the Guardian, Kate Lloyd explains why tepid water is the better bedtime strategy.
Lizzy Lawrence and Elaine Chen report for STAT News that Eli Lilly will let more people apply for early access to retatrutide, its experimental diabetes and obesity drug.
Moderna has started testing an experimental Ebola vaccine in people that targets the Bundibugyo strain ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bloomberg reports.