Why you shouldn't work on Labor Day

Plus: promises you shouldn't keep, the cancer risk of flying, and more health news  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Mandy Oaklander | September 07, 2026     Happy Labor Day! I hope you can get some quality rest today. So does Kara Alaimo, a professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and author of a new piece for TIME making the case for why you shouldn't work at all on Labor Day. We deserve a break from the "infinite workday," after all. "Being pulled in so many directions at the same time is awful for our health and the quality of our work, for a simple reason: The human brain can’t multitask," Alaimo writes. So make this your homework for today: don't send that work email. It can wait until tomorrow. TODAY’S TOPICS Why you shouldn’t keep every promise Got a question for us? Pilots, flight attendants, and cancer risk         QUICK CHAT Promises you shouldn’t keep When Sue Ryan was in the throes of early love, she and her husband made the kind of promise many couples make: They’d take care of each other at home, no matter what. Years later, after he developed Alzheimer’s disease, Ryan ultimately moved him into a care community. During our recent conversation about caregiving, she told me there’s a name for vows like the one they made: “promises you’re not meant to keep.” I wanted to know what she meant. —Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Eugene Mymrin—Getty Images What exactly is a “promise you’re not meant to keep”? When you’re young and in love, you might promise each other, “We’re never going to put each other in a home. We’re going to take care of each other.” Or you might make that promise to a parent. You’re saying it out of love, and they may be saying it out of fear. But you have no idea what the future is going to look like. Why might keeping that promise eventually stop being the loving thing to do? Say your dad develops dementia. He might not recognize you. He might think you’re someone trying to hurt him, and he could hurt you without even knowing it. You simply couldn’t have imagined that situation when you made the promise. You may not be qualified to provide the care he needs—and keeping him at home may not be best for him, either. How did you make that decision with your own husband? I moved my husband into a care community because it was the wisest choice for his lifestyle and safety—and mine. He was a very social person, and I couldn’t provide enough activity at home to keep him stimulated. When you make these decisions, you have to look not only at safety but also at what kind of life is best for the person you love. But how do you get past the feeling that you broke your word? Instead of asking, “Did I keep the promise?” ask: “What’s the wisest choice for the health of both of us?” The caregiver matters, too. Holding yourself to a promise made under completely different circumstances can leave you exhausted, sick, and afraid to tell anyone how much you’re struggling.         SPONSORED 2 minutes. Your URL. A customer profile worth using. Most founders can describe their product. They can't describe their customer. Not in a way that actually changes how they sell. HubSpot for Startups built a free tool to fix that. Paste in your URL, answer a few quick questions, and it generates a structured profile of your best-fit customer. Firmographics, buying triggers, the works. Takes 2 minutes. No spreadsheet required. Build Your Free ICP.         TODAY I LEARNED The risks medical workers won’t take A recent Threads post asked doctors, EMTs, and other medical professionals which activities they’d never try after treating other people’s injuries. The answers made me reconsider several seemingly innocuous choices. One orthopedic technician ruled out sledding after seeing people compress their spines. A former EMT said motorcycles. These are personal anecdotes, not scientific risk assessments—but some have evidence to back them up. Motorcyclists, for example, are nearly 27 times more likely to die per mile traveled than passengers in cars. And one study counted more than 220,000 sledding-related ER visits over a decade, often following collisions. My takeaway: Always wear a helmet when you’re riding something that moves, and sit feet-first while sledding. —A.H.         SPONSORED Daily news for curious minds. Be the smartest person in the room. 1440 navigates 100+ sources to deliver a comprehensive, unbiased news roundup — politics, business, culture, and more — in a quick, 5-minute read. Completely free, completely factual. Sign up now!         PLEASE ADVISE Ask the health team Have a burning health or wellness question? Wondering how to handle a tricky social situation? Please write to healthmatters@time.com, and we’ll weigh in weekly in the newsletter.         SPONSORED 100 CLI tools that separate top engineers from everyone else AI can write your code. It can't run your stack. Engineers who stay valuable know their terminal cold. The Code built the 100 CLI Tools, 2026 Edition, to showcase the stack top teams run on. Sign up and get the toolkit free, plus a 5-minute daily newsletter to stay 6 months ahead. Claim your CLI toolkit         WHAT WE’RE READING Pilots and flight attendants face an increased risk of cancer, write Vishal R. Patel, Christopher M. Worsham, and Anupam Jena for TIME. But casual flyers don’t have to worry. How do you rebuild a career after prison? Cathy Bussewitz at the Associated Press follows people who found work, stability, and purpose after coming home. Would you watch yourself brush your teeth—from inside your mouth? Zoe Wood at the Guardian gets a look at Dyson’s new toothbrush, which livestreams your cleaning to an app.     EMAIL US: healthmatters@time.com More Newsletters from Click to sign up. THE BRIEF +D.C. BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Connect with TIME PRIVACY POLICY   © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe