Now, just when we finally got used to logging in this way, big changes are coming. (Sigh.) In fact, they’re here already for one major company, at least for many of its products and sites. And you know how it goes in the tech world: Once one company does something, it’s only a matter of time before they all jump on the train.

Ahead, I’ll walk you through the latest change to online security measures, tell you what’s replacing SMS verifications and explain how the new paradigm will affect you going forward. Keep reading to learn more and get ahead of the changing tech landscape.

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Are all SMS codes being phased out?

Not yet. Microsoft is leading the charge here. The company recently announced that the familiar text codes will be phased out for personal Microsoft accounts, including Outlook, MSN and Hotmail, as well as other Windows applications and products like XBox, Windows PCs and Skype.

In addition to personal accounts, Microsoft announced the impending retirement of SMS codes for organizations that use Microsoft products. If you use Outlook or another MS product at work or school, you may have already begun seeing this change.

Other companies that are encouraging users to move away from SMS authentication include OpenAI, which announced in earlier this year that users will be given the option to switch to another form of verification, and Google, which still supports SMS codes but is also pushing users to use other options.

Why are companies doing this?

It’s all about security. According to Microsoft, SMS verification is a huge source of fraud. The thing is, text messages are not that secure—telephone and cellular networks were just not designed to keep information sent in plain-text messages out of prying eyes.

And scammers have several ways to trick you into giving up your code. The biggest one is called SIM-card swapping. This is when fraudsters convince a mobile carrier to transfer your SIM card to them, log in to your accounts and intercept the SMS code that is sent for authentication. A Texas man was just convicted of this kind of fraud, sentenced to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution to victims. Last year, a Florida man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for similar crimes involving 59 separate victims. According to the FBI, this kind of SMS fraud cost consumers $26 million in 2024.

Aside from SIM-card swapping, relying on text messages to verify your account credentials sets you up for phishing attacks. Scammers set up a fake page that looks like your bank, email or other account, then send you a text message to entice you to log in to the fake page. They capture your info, log in themselves and have you enter the SMS code that is sent to you. Text-message fraud cost consumers $470 million in 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

What will be the new process to log in to your accounts?

Microsoft is starting to use passkeys instead of SMS codes. Passkeys are forms of multi-factor authentication that include Face ID, fingerprints or a special digital key that uses your device to prove it’s really you. They work through something called “public-key cryptography,” a private key that’s stored on your device (like your fingerprint or Face ID), and a public key that comes from the website you’re trying to log in to.

When you log in to your accounts, the private key and the public key challenge each other to verify that you are authorized to log in. So instead of using a password or code that goes out over an insecure text, your device itself stores the info and proves that the public key and private key match. Passkeys are resistant to fraud because they cannot be faked by external actors.

How do you set up the new passkey?

It’s easy. When you log in to your Microsoft account, you will be prompted to create a passkey. (It’s currently optional on personal accounts, so you can also choose to skip the new process for now.)

Here’s what to do:

1. Click on the “Sign in faster” button when prompted.
2. Alternatively, go directly to Advanced Security Options if you’re already logged in.
3. Choose “Add a new way to sign in or verify.”
4. Select Face, Fingerprint, PIN or Security Key.
5. Follow the instructions to create the passkey of your choosing.
6. Select “Save” to store the passkey where suggested, or “Change” to store the passkey in another location.

Now what? The next time you attempt to sign in to your Microsoft account, you will not receive that SMS-code prompt or that 10-minute countdown. Instead, you’ll be asked to provide the passkey you created directly on your phone or device, whether that’s your Face ID, fingerprint, PIN or security key.

When will Microsoft SMS codes officially be a thing of the past?

Microsoft is already phasing out the old SMS codes, so you’ve likely seen the prompt window when you log in. For workplaces and other organizations, Microsoft plans to have everyone moved over to passkeys by July 2027. But the company has not made a public announcement about when the old codes will be 100% obsolete for personal accounts.

So for now, you can continue to ignore the prompt to create a passkey. But after learning how easy it is for scammers to infiltrate your device using SMS codes, you might want to create one sooner rather than later.

Sources:

• Microsoft: “Passkeys by default and retirement of Microsoft-provided SMS and voice authentication”
• Microsoft: “Passkeys frequently asked questions (FAQ)”
• OpenAI: “Introducing Advanced Account Security”
• Google: “Passwordless by default: Make the switch to passkeys”
• U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas: “Waxahachie Man Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison for $1.7M SIM Card Swapping Fraud Scheme”
• FBI: “Internet Crime Report 2024”
• U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of Florida: “Palm Coast Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison”
• FTC: “New FTC Data Show Top Text Message Scams of 2024; Overall Losses to Text Scams Hit $470 Million”
• Microsoft: “Create and save a passkey”

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The post Those SMS Codes You Use to Log In to Your Accounts Are on Their Way Out—Here’s What You’ll Need to Do Instead appeared first on Reader's Digest.

In fact, anyone who works and pays into Social Security, which is primarily financed through payroll taxes, has reason to pay attention to the latest news coming out of the Social Security Administration (SSA). Every year around this time, the SSA reveals the annual cost-of-living increase that will appear on the monthly checks—and you’ll definitely want to pay attention to this latest change.

The 2027 benefit-increase announcement couldn’t have come at a better time. Inflation is high, gas prices are way up and Americans of all ages are feeling the pinch. The increase will apply to both regular Social Security payments as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which provides cash to people of any age who are blind, have disabilities or have limited sources of income.

So how much will this year’s increase be, and who will benefit? Will it make a dent in your retirement costs? And if you’re still many years away from that happy day, how can you make sure you’re planning for the future? Read on to find out and get some important advice from Social Security, retirement and money experts.

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What is the Social Security cost-of-living increase, exactly?

The cost-of-living increase is just what it sounds like—adjustments to Social Security payments based on increased costs of basic expenses.

“The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, was enacted by Congress as part of the 1972 Social Security Amendments, and automatic annual COLAs began in 1975,” explains Kevin Walton, a registered Social Security analyst certified by the National Association of Social Security Analysts. “Before that, benefits were increased only when Congress enacted special legislation.”

Since then, COLA has become something all beneficiaries count on each year. “The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is an annual increase to every recipient’s benefits based on the change in the consumer price index over the past year,” says certified financial planner Stephen Kates, the principal financial analyst for the site RetireGuide.

How much is the latest increase?

The just-announced increase for 2027 will be 3.6%, which is the biggest jump since 2023. Individual amounts will depend on what your number is currently, but the SSA says the average increase will be about $75 per check.

How can you calculate how big your check will be?

Current retirees or recipients can take the gross monthly amount on their check and multiply it by 1.036 to determine 2027’s payments. This will give you your new gross check amount.

Here’s an example: Let’s say your 2026 monthly gross payments are $2,000. Multiplying $2,000 by 1.036 gives you a new total of $2,072. You can also determine the increase alone by multiplying $2,000 by 0.036 (aka 3.6%), which comes to $72.

For younger folks who haven’t yet started receiving Social Security, you can determine your eligible benefits by creating an account on SSA.gov, says Kates.

When will people receive this extra money?

For the nearly 72 million regular Social Security recipients, the SSA will start sending checks with the new amounts in January 2027. For those on SSI, which is about 7.3 million people, the adjustment will start on Dec. 31, 2026.

How can you stretch your retirement dollars?

It can be tough. According to Amie Clark of The Senior List, a website focused on aging-related consumer news, nearly 30% of retirees are not confident they’ll be able to maintain their current lifestyle throughout retirement. “The most unexpected financial challenges for retirees [are] inflation and rising living costs, followed closely by medical and health-care expenses and home-repair and maintenance costs,” she says.

Here are some expert-approved strategies to help stretch your retirement dollars or save money at any age.

Manage cash flow

Managing cash flow is important for everyone, but for retired folks, limiting spending to only what is coming in from Social Security, investments and part-time jobs is critical. “Maintain a budget for your spending, and plan ahead for future spending,” Kates advises.

Then focus on saving. After all, it’s much less stressful to save for a rainy day than spend sleepless nights worrying about debt from impulse purchases. When you have a little extra, save it if you can. “In years when investments are performing well, emergency funds can be boosted,” he says. “These will be important for years when your investments perform poorly and will offer you assets to draw from with little risk or tax consequences.”

Be a savvy consumer

There’s a rush that comes with shopping and getting new things, but in some cases, you can refresh what you have, which is also good for the environment. “In day-to-day spending, capitalize on opportunities to save on the everyday things you plan to do anyway,” Kates suggests. “Credit card rewards, rebates, home-maintenance tax rebates and more are all available to retirees who seek them out.”

Look at your fixed expenses

It’s a good idea to look at your fixed expenses, make sure they’re really “fixed” and see if you can cut costs without too much sacrifice. “This can include reevaluating your auto and home insurance or eliminating the number of times you eat out each week,” says Chuck Czajka, a certified Social Security claiming strategist and the founder of Macro Money Concepts in Stuart, Florida.

Be careful with the credit cards

Although debit cards come with their own risks, you want to be mindful of how much you’re charging. “When it comes to credit cards, keep usage to a minimum,” Czajka advises. “If you do make credit card charges, ensure you pay them off in full at the end of each month.”

Get a good investment advisor or accountant

You may think you can manage your finances on your own, but it can be helpful to have an investment advisor or accountant help you with the big picture. You might even find that saving money can be a fun challenge! “There may be opportunities to plan withdrawals or asset sales in certain years to minimize future taxes or take advantage of certain allowable tax credits or deductions,” Kates says. A financial advisor or accountant can help you with that.

Delay retirement

Nobody really wants to significantly delay retirement, but holding off on getting your Social Security benefits is a wise move. “For those who have not yet retired or claimed Social Security benefits, waiting until full retirement age or later can significantly increase retirement income,” Kates says. “If benefits are delayed, payments will increase by roughly 8% per year until age 70.”

Always read the fine print

Whether you’re dealing with long service agreements or cellphone contracts and bills, it’s critical to read the fine print. If you feel like you’re reading gobbledygook, you’re not alone. But ask a trusted relative or friend to help you. When all else fails, hire a lawyer.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. For this piece, Jaime Stathis tapped her experience as a longtime journalist who covers money, work and scams for Reader’s Digest to make sure all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Social Security Administration: “Social Security Announces 3.6 Percent Benefit Increase for 2027”
• Associated Press: “Social Security recipients to get 3.6% cost of living boost, an average of $75 per month”
• Amie Clark, co-founder and editor-in-chief of TheSeniorList.com; email interview, Oct. 14, 2024
• Kevin Walton, NARSSA-certified registered Social Security analyst and coach at C2 Financial; email interview, Oct. 16, 2024
• Stephen Kates, principal financial analyst for RetireGuide; email interview, Oct. 16, 2024
• Chuck Czajka, certified Social Security claiming strategist and the founder of Macro Money Concepts; email interview, Oct. 15, 2024

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The post Social Security Just Announced a Cost-of-Living Increase for 2027—Here’s How Much Will Be in Those Checks appeared first on Reader's Digest.

That’s because October is hurtling two major retrogrades at us … at the same time … in the same sign. Quick astrology refresher: A retrograde planet signifies a time when that planet appears to be moving backward across the sky and isn’t operating to its fullest capacity. Things break, wires get crossed, items are lost, messages aren’t received. Astrologers like to focus on the “re” part of the word retrograde—return, revisit, reorganize, reconvene—because retrogrades have an eerie way of turning back time.

It’s already atypical to have two major planets doing this at the same time. But these two retrograde planets will have a particular interest in our love lives, and four signs will be hit the hardest. Read on to find out what you’re in store for—and whether you’re among the particularly unlucky ones.

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What is happening in October, exactly?

This rare double retrograde includes a Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Libra at the start of October, and then a Mercury retrograde in Scorpio later in the month. This will continue until Nov. 13, when both planets turn direct.

Aside from the two retrogrades happening at once, the specific signs the planets are traveling in play a big role. Scorpio rules secrets, obsession, alchemy and the hidden. This sign’s job is to surface the taboo, untouched things so we can learn from them. Now, apply that to the upcoming retrograde planets, and you get people pinging you to discuss old matters (Mercury, the planet of communication), especially about romantic relationships (Venus, the planet of love).

For most of the month, Venus retrograde will travel through Scorpio. On Oct. 24, Mercury turns retrograde in Scorpio. The planets share a retrograde period in Scorpio for one day. And then on Oct. 25, Venus will move into Libra, the literal sign of relationships. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Oct. 3: Venus turns retrograde (Scorpio)
• Oct. 24: Venus and Mercury retrograde share a day in Scorpio
• Oct. 25: Venus retrograde enters Libra
• Nov. 13: Venus and Mercury turn direct

How will these retrogrades affect you?

A typical retrograde will never affect everyone the same way—or sometimes even at all. However, because there are two retrogrades happening concurrently, in two different signs, they’ll occupy more real estate in communal charts. And they will likely affect everyone’s relationships, though, as noted, some signs will feel it more than others. (More on that in a minute.)

For most of October, the Venus retrograde in Scorpio will push us into investigative mode. Since Venus rules both relationships and money, its placement in Scorpio encourages us to dig deep into our relationships and right certain wrongs related to money. But when it’s retrograde, it means we’re digging even deeper, specifically into our past relationships and connections or into past money issues. 

The investigative mode is turned down slightly when Venus moves into Libra. However, this will act less as a reconnaissance period and more as a reconciliation period. This is when we use the information we’ve discovered to find healing, self-love and personal growth—away from relationships that we’ve held onto or that still hold us back. 

Mercury retrograde’s entry at the end of the month brings more conversation around. So things are finally said, apologies are made, notice is given and endings begin. 

Overall, the two retrogrades will push us to revisit conversations and experiences we’ve already had—especially with old partners. 

Which zodiac signs will get hit the hardest?

While everyone will feel at least subtle effects this month, some zodiac signs will really feel the double whammy. The reason? If Venus or Mercury retrograde hits your personal sign, this means it’s traveling through a personal sector of your chart—and you’re bound to feel personally victimized by this retrograde season. 

Scorpio

Both Venus and Mercury will be moving through your sign, Scorpio, which can feel really heavy. Thanks to this pressure, you’re going to feel very self-aware and perhaps self-scrutinizing as well. You’ll look back on your relationships and consider how you responded in each one. Were you fair? Was it equal? Do you actually need that apology, or should you be the one giving it? 

Unpopular opinion: The best form of loving yourself is holding the version of you that was hurt, then moving on.

Taurus

Both of these retrogrades are happening in the sector of your chart that rules serious, long-term relationships. So while some of the signs may have flings or “almost” partners sliding in their DMs, you’re most likely to hear from your BIG ex. 

Now, this may sound jarring. But the point of their reentrance into your life is this: In order to choose yourself again, you need the option to choose them. Their little “Hey, I’ve been thinking about you” message might have you daydreaming about what could be, but at the end of the day, has anything really changed? Probably not. Choose yourself. 

Libra

Venus retrograde won’t move into your sign until Oct. 25. So for most of October, the focus is on the part of your chart that rules the subconscious. Essentially, your ex-partnerships are going to be haunting you in your dreams. You’ll get nightly pings, direct hits and nostalgic drops right before you fall asleep. 

This isn’t a reminder that there’s still potential; it’s an indication that full healing hasn’t taken place. As Mercury turns retrograde and Venus retrograde moves into your sign, you’re asked to set your boundaries in current relationships. 

Cancer

These retrogrades will be traveling through the sector of your chart that rules fun, sex and casual dating. This is the friend zone—or even “friends with benefits” zone—in the chart. Especially because Mercury is turning backward here, you’re going to hear from old connections. Think: that person you met on Tinder and never heard from again, the summer fling you had back in college or that very brief almost-affair you got into with someone’s partner. You’d better believe they’ll be back, tempting you once again. Don’t fall for it.  

What should you do to counter these effects?

Unfortunately, you can’t really do anything to improve this retrograde season. The cosmos will bring back what’s supposed to come back in the way you least expect. However, there are things you can do to prepare yourself for openness, personal strength and that possible conversation with an ex. 

To prepare for ex sightings and visitations, it’s helpful to remind yourself of the bad times, so that when they do reach out, you don’t immediately reach for the good memories. (Retrogrades can bring delusions, so it’s important to stay on top of this.) To do this, take screenshots of your three worst moments or memories with them, to pull up when you need them. 

It’s also doubly important to double-check everything. Reread the contract, look through that email again, rewrite the text message before sending it and think twice about sharing something in the moment. 

What should you absolutely not do?

Ultimately, try not to make any rash decisions this October—and this will be challenging. The offer might look really good. Or your ex might say everything you’ve always wanted to hear. But whatever happens right now doesn’t usually stick for the long haul.

We often forget that this period is the test. This is why retrogrades aren’t for acting; they’re for pausing. So when an offer is made or someone reaches out, pause first. Sleep on it. This will remind you of what you actually want, so you’re not reacting with emotions first.

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The post Astrological Warning! We’re About to Get Hit with a Rare Double Retrograde—And These 4 Signs Will Have a Particularly Tough Time appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Much of this money, about $158 million, went to the Senate Leadership Fund in an effort to maintain a majority in that chamber of Congress. Another big outlay, $76 million, went to Musk’s super PAC, which will spend the cash on canvassing for candidates in seven Senate races and dozens of House ones.

And that’s just since July. All in all, he has spent roughly $366 million dollars on the 2025–2026 election cycle. This isn’t the first time Musk has made influential campaign contributions either. He spent more than $290 million on the 2024 election, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings—more than any other donor. 

As of the latest FEC filings from July, PACs from all parties had raised $8.3 billion and spent $6.5 billion during the 2025–2026 election cycle. (The FEC filing deadline is coming up on Oct. 15, 2026, so these numbers are even higher now.) It’s hard to believe that it’s legal for people like Musk to spend these staggering amounts to influence elections, but thanks to a landmark 2010 Supreme Court ruling, it is.

Ahead, we spoke with politics and election-law experts Jen Heerwig, PhD, Donald Tobin, JD, and Alex Keena, PhD, to understand this consequential (and controversial) court case. Read on to learn more about the influence of money in politics and how this case changed campaign spending.

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How much more money is in politics than it used to be?

In inflation-adjusted terms, the elections of 2020 broke all records: Nearly $19 billion was spent on the presidential race and congressional races combined, says Heerwig, an associate professor of sociology at SUNY-Stony Brook who studies political contributions by American corporate elites. In 2016, that number was less than $10 billion. “It’s unusual to see the cost of elections nearly double in the space of four years,” she says.

One reason for this increase is the gradual influx of super PACs, Heerwig explains. “In 2016, over $1 billion was spent by super PACs. In 2020, over $2 billion was spent by these groups.” A large proportion of this money goes to political advertising, which is getting more expensive every year.

That said, the composition of spending in our elections had been changing even before the explosion of money in 2020. And as you’ll see coming up, there’s a reason why super PACs have become such an important driver of election spending.

What caused this massive shift in campaign contributions?

The driving force behind this substantial shift in campaign contributions was a 2010 Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited sums of money to support or oppose a candidate running for federal office. 

“Previously, corporations had to establish a PAC, which could only spend $5,000 giving to a particular candidate under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971,” according to Keena, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University who focuses on money in politics and elections. “The Supreme Court said that part of the law was unconstitutional because it violated the ‘political speech’ rights of corporations.” 

Essentially, the Supreme Court reasoned that corporations should have the First Amendment right to speak in elections. “After Citizens United, a private company could decide to make an advertisement to support the candidacy of, say, Donald Trump or a candidate running for the U.S. House or Senate,” Heerwig says. “Since there are no limits on independent expenditures, a company could spend unlimited amounts to support its favored candidates, so long as it did so on its own.”

The ruling has had a predictable influence on our elections. “Since the Citizens United ruling, super PACs have gradually become more important in election spending,” Heerwig says.

How is a super PAC different from a regular PAC?

The Citizens United ruling created a new type of PAC—a super PAC—that can give unlimited money but cannot directly “coordinate” with a campaign. “In practice, this requirement is unenforced,” Keena explains. “For example, Elon Musk created a super PAC to help Trump win in 2024, and he was in frequent contact with the Trump campaign and even appeared on stage with Trump when he was a candidate.” 

Interestingly, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission began in the lower courts as a case about what kinds of information must be disclosed by entities making political advertisements and communications, Heerwig explains. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of the case revolved around the ban on corporate independent spending—contributions made directly from company treasuries to influence elections, like a political advertisement made to support or oppose a candidate for the U.S. House or Senate, she notes.

How can this skew election results?

This massive shift in contributions makes candidates, campaigns and political parties more reliant on corporate and monied interests, Keena says. “The increase in money being spent means candidates have to spend more of their time asking the rich for donations, and in response, the political parties have become more responsive to the interests of the wealthy and special interests that support them,” he explains. 

The result? Congress now gives preferential treatment to the ideas and policies favored by the donor class and makes symbolic overtures to ordinary citizens rather than offering substantive representation, Keena says.

Super PAC spending tends to target the most competitive races, where spending even a small amount of money may be more meaningful, Heerwig says. “In these races, we’ve seen super PACs inundate media markets with advertisements of all types—online, print, television, etc.,” she explains.

Hold on—is this even legal?

Yes, it’s totally legal for Elon Musk to channel hundreds of millions of dollars into our elections through his super PAC. “The courts view this money as a constitutional right,” Keena says. “All Americans are entitled to spend as much as they want on election advertising and communications.” 

However, Musk’s super PAC can’t coordinate with official candidate committees, Heerwig says. But that restriction doesn’t have much bite these days. “In practice, we know that super PACs can and do coordinate with candidates, and our chief federal election watchdog, the Federal Election Commission, has not meaningfully intervened,” she explains.

It’s important to recognize that Elon Musk could spend unlimited dollars on the midterms prior to Citizens United as long as he did not coordinate with any candidate, says Tobin, an election and tax law professor and former dean of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. What Citizens United did was allow Musk to make such contributions through a corporate form.

“In reality, it had no serious impact on an individual’s ability to spend unlimited funds,” he explains. “It just made it easier because Musk can create an independent expenditure PAC and he can just contribute to that PAC.”

Could the Citizens United ruling ever be reversed?

Yes, it’s possible that the Citizens United ruling will be reversed at some point, Keena says.

If (or when) the membership of the Supreme Court changes (such as through death, resignation or future expansion) or when societal attitudes change, “future courts could reverse this ruling,” Keena says. “Otherwise, reversing it would require a constitutional amendment.”

Alternatively, Congress could pass legislation creating a different regulatory system for campaign contributions, Tobin says.

What should you pay attention to before the 2026 midterms?

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, keep an eye out for the signs that big money is at play. Keena recommends looking at who is giving money to the candidates as well as the super PAC money being spent to support them. “This money creates relationships of obligations between politicians and their financiers, and it previews what types of policies a politician might support or oppose in office,” he explains. 

If you live in a state or district with a competitive race, Heerwig suggests paying very careful attention to the disclaimer that appears at the end of political advertisements. “If the advertisement does not explicitly contain the endorsement of the named candidate, then it’s an ad that’s been funded by a third-party group, likely a super PAC,” she explains. “Stay vigilant about fact-checking the claims coming from these groups.”

Sources:

• Jen Heerwig, PhD, associate professor of sociology at SUNY-Stony Brook; email interview, Oct. 2, 2026
• Alex Keena, PhD, associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University; email interview, Oct. 2, 2026 
• Donald Tobin, JD, election and tax law professor and former dean of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law; email interview, Oct. 2, 2026
• The New York Times: “Inside Elon Musk’s $276 Million Midterm Rescue Mission for Republicans”
• Forbes: “Elon Musk Becomes a Trillionaire—Again—After SpaceX Stock Jumps”
• CNN: “Elon Musk spent more than $290 million on the 2024 election, year-end FEC filings show”
• Open Secrets: “Elon Musk tops list of 2024 political donors, but five others gave more than $100 million”
• Federal Election Commission: “Statistical Summary of 18-Month Campaign Activity of the 2025-2026 Election Cycle”
• Open Secrets: “Total Cost of Election (1998-2024)”

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The post Elon Musk Is Spending More Than $275 Million on the Midterm Elections. Did We Always Have This Much Money in Politics—And Is This Even Legal? appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Yes, you heard that right. There’s one beloved food that’s better for you if you cook it and then pop it in the fridge for a day or two before eating it. What kind of sorcery is this? The wonderful kind!

Keep reading to find out what this magical food is—and what kind of special alchemy happens in your fridge when it spends the night in there.

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Which food is actually healthier as a leftover?

Ever heard of lasagna? Spaghetti and meatballs? Penne a la vodka? I could go on—I do love my pasta. And that’s a good thing because pasta is the food I’m talking about. It’s actually much healthier when it’s eaten as leftovers, and it’s all because of what happens to the starch molecules that make up the pasta during both the cooking and cooling processes.

“When pasta cooks, its starch granules absorb water, and [they] swell,” explains Jordan Langhough, a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina. “This process makes it easier for your body to break down the starch quickly and turn it into glucose.”

But then, as your hot pasta cools, something else happens. “When it cools, those starch molecules go through a process called retrogradation: They reorganize into a tighter, more crystalline structure that your digestive enzymes can’t break down as easily,” Langhough says. This new structure that’s formed is called resistant starch—and it is the key to all the potential health benefits you can get from leftover pasta.

Why is leftover pasta better for you?

“Resistant starch acts more like fiber than a carb in the body,” says Langhough. What does that mean? When you eat simple carbs, like white bread or cookies, your body immediately breaks them down, sending glucose (aka sugar) straight into your bloodstream, and that can cause a host of problems. Fiber, on the other hand, travels through your digestive system without being broken down, which leads to a variety of possible perks, including the following.

A healthier gut microbiome

During digestion, resistant starch isn’t broken down in the stomach like simpler carbs are. Instead, explains Langhough, it travels to the large intestine, where it acts as a prebiotic, or a food that nourishes the beneficial bacteria that live there. This allows the healthy bacteria in your gut to thrive. Studies have shown that people with a healthier, more diverse microbiome have lower cholesterol levels, higher fitness levels and greater longevity than those who don’t have as many good bugs living in their gut. That’s because these bacteria influence everything from digestion to disease prevention.

On the flip side, if your microbiome is overrun by bad bugs, you can experience digestive difficulties, an increased risk of inflammatory bowel diseases, fatigue, mood changes and more, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The bottom line: You want your gut microbiome to be as healthy as possible, and eating foods rich in resistant starch is an excellent way to support that goal.

More controlled blood-sugar levels

Resistant starch reduces the glycemic impact of the meal, or how quickly the food causes your blood sugar to rise, says Langhough. While hot pasta contains simple starches that are broken down quickly, causing a rapid rise, the resistant starch in leftover pasta is not broken down at all, slowing the spike that your meal creates.

This is a big deal for people with diabetes who are trying to avoid blood-sugar spikes. According to one study in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, resistant starch seems to lower post-meal blood-sugar levels, making it a promising part of medical nutrition therapy for type 2 diabetes.

That said, avoiding blood-sugar spikes is smart for everyone. Frequent extreme spikes and dips in those levels can contribute to increased inflammation, low energy, poor sleep, irritability and possibly even an increased risk of cancer, according to a 2025 review. You also tend to feel hungry again after a spike and drop in blood sugar, which can lead to snacking and subsequent weight gain. It’s best to keep your blood sugar as steady as possible.

More satiety—and possible weight loss

“Over time, regularly eating resistant starch has been linked to a greater sense of fullness after eating,” Langhough says. That’s primarily because it travels through the GI tract without breaking down, so you’ll feel fuller for longer, potentially delaying your next meal or snack and reducing your overall food intake for the day.

The result: In a study in the journal Nature Metabolism, people who used resistant starch as a dietary supplement for eight weeks while eating a balanced diet lost an average of 6.2 pounds. In addition to the satiety boost, researchers suspect this is because resistant starch reduces inflammation and nourishes the gut microbiome, both of which contribute to a healthier body weight.

Lower cholesterol

According to a review in Nutrition Research, consuming resistant starch helps lower both total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, which can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Again, this comes back to your microbiome: The resistant starch feeds your good gut bugs, which then produce compounds called short-chain fatty acids that help the body break down harmful fats instead of absorbing and storing them.

And, of course, enjoying your pasta with other heart-healthy foods like veggies and olive oil will further support this perk … as opposed to slathering it in a creamy, cheesy sauce.

How long does it take for pasta to transform into this new-and-improved option?

To maximize how much resistant starch is formed, Langhough suggests refrigerating pasta overnight. “The pasta needs to cool down significantly,” she says. “Some retrogradation begins at room temperature, but you get the most resistant-starch formation after chilling it overnight in the fridge.”

That said, don’t seal it up in a storage container too quickly. Langhough recommends waiting around 30 minutes to let the steam escape and get a jump-start on cooling before putting it in a wide, shallow container in the fridge—if you put hot food in a deep container, the middle may remain in the “danger zone” for bacterial growth longer than you want it to.

But, she adds, “from a food-safety standpoint, you don’t want cooked pasta sitting out for more than two hours at room temperature, so [don’t] delay much beyond that.”

Should you heat up the pasta the next day or eat it cold?

Don’t worry—you don’t have to eat that pasta cold unless you want to. “Because retrogradation is partially irreversible, a meaningful amount of resistant starch remains even after reheating,” says Langhough.

In fact, cooking, cooling and reheating pasta may actually be the best approach for maximizing the perks. One study in the journal Foods found that reheated pasta produced a smaller blood-sugar spike after eating than both hot, freshly cooked pasta and cold pasta.

Are there any downsides to this?

Some people are wary of eating leftover pasta dishes for fear of something called reheated rice syndrome, which, as the name implies, can also happen when reheating rice. A form of food poisoning caused by the bacteria B. cereus, it can lead to vomiting, diarrhea and, in rare cases, more serious illness. However, the name is a bit of a misnomer, since it’s not the reheating process that causes the bacteria to form the spores that make you sick. Instead, they form and produce toxins if the rice or pasta is left at room temperature for too long during the preparation or cooling process. The problem is that these spores are heat-resistant, explains Langhough, so once they have formed, reheating your leftovers won’t do anything to kill them.

As technical and worrisome as this sounds, here’s the only thing you really need to know: Make sure your pasta is in the fridge within two hours of cooking it, ideally sooner. The less time it spends at room temperature, the better. If you do that, you should be able to avoid these risks.

Do any other foods work this kind of magic the day after?

Yes! A few, in fact, as you’ll see below.

• Rice and potatoes: “The same principle applies,” says Langhough. “Cook them, cool them in the fridge, and they develop significantly more resistant starch than when eaten hot.”
• Beans and lentils: “These are naturally high in resistant starch, and they get an additional boost when cooled,” Langhough says.
• Oats: Overnight oats aren’t just convenient—they also contain more resistant starch than their hot counterparts, making them a “particularly blood-sugar-friendly breakfast,” per Langhough.

Look, we know you probably won’t stop eating hot, fresh pasta altogether—and as long as you’re eating it as part of a balanced meal, you don’t need to. But consider this your go-ahead to enjoy it for a second (or third) night. Your body will thank you.

Sources:

• Jordan Langhough, RD, CPT, registered dietitian and certified personal trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina; email interview, Oct. 5, 2026
• Harvard Medical School: “Healthy gut, healthier aging”
• Frontiers in Microbiology: “Unveiling roles of beneficial gut bacteria and optimal diets for health”
• Cleveland Clinic: “Dysbiosis”
• Journal of Diabetes Investigation: “Resistant starch and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Clinical perspective”
• Clinical Medicine Insights: Endocrinology and Diabetes: “A Scoping Review of Glucose Spikes in People Without Diabetes: Comparing Insights from Grey Literature and Medical Research”
• Nature Metabolism: “Resistant starch intake facilitates weight loss in humans by reshaping the gut microbiota”
• Nutrition Research: “Meta-analysis indicates that resistant starch lowers serum total cholesterol and low-density cholesterol”

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If you’ve ever parented a Chihuahua or happen to have crossed one of their paths, you know these attitude-heavy canines pack a lot of punch in their tiny bodies. Ahead, I’ll walk you through the results of this study and explain how the heck researchers even determined this mind-blowing revelation. Read on to learn more about this fascinating study.

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So what type of animal is in a Chihuahua?

Your ferocious but lovable little lap dog has coyote blood coursing through his veins! Researchers confirmed this astounding fact while they were studying the effectiveness of a certain type of genetic sequencing that is way too complicated to go into here, but the results are pretty cool regardless.

Because coyotes are native to North America, the study authors keyed in on dogs that have been present in the Americas for hundreds of years, before European contact, to test a new genomic sequencing algorithm. This included the Chihuahua and a dog called the Xoloitzcuintli (aka the Xolo), a hairless breed that also has its origins in Mexico. And yep, both breeds share DNA with the coyote.

Hold on—if Chihuahuas are part coyote, why are they so small?

It has to do with selective breeding. Earlier research has found that nearly all dogs smaller than 15 pounds share a certain genetic marker on one particular chromosome (CFA15). This shared gene, which has to do with insulin production, led researchers to determine that early on in the domestication process—we’re talking thousands of years ago—humans began deliberately selecting for small dogs.

We’re not sure if that means the ancients also liked lap dogs, or whether the relentless little yappers were bred for another purpose, like alerting the group to invaders. Nor did this study determine how much coyote DNA remains in today’s Chihuahuas, though earlier research put the figure at roughly 4%. It’s also not known if cross-breeding between coyotes and domestic dogs was deliberate. But we do know that humans selected for smaller dogs at some point in the past.

Why does this make a whole lot of sense when you really think about it?

If you’ve ever been around a Chihuahua, you know they have a lot of personality packed into their tiny bodies. But according to the American Kennel Club (AKC), they tend to be reserved at first, which aligns with their skittish coyote brethren.

Chihuahuas are fiercely loyal and protective of their families, and it turns out that coyotes are too. You may think of coyotes as solitary figures, especially if you live in an urban environment, but they often live in monogamous pairs and family groups and will defend their territory. Coyotes even exhibit play behavior like domestic dogs.

Coyotes are also self-preservationists: According to Project Coyote, a conservation group, the wild animals tend to “bluff charge” when confronted rather than aggressively engaging a threat directly. Kind of sounds like a Chihuahua, who wants you to know she’s tough but also understands the limitations of her tiny size.

So what should you do with your wild little coyote hybrid?

According to the AKC, even though they are small, Chihuahuas do best with training so they don’t “rule your household like a little Napoleon.” Start your relationship right with puppy classes, and make sure to provide these intelligent dogs with engaging things to do.

Chihuahuas enjoy short walks to avoid overexertion, or can be exercised easily with a ball or toy in smaller spaces like apartments. Even though they enjoy sitting in your lap for hours (unlike a coyote!), all dogs need stimulation to stave off boredom and be happy. Chihuahuas are a natural at obedience training and canine sports, according to the AKC.

Sources:

• Nature Communications: “Scalable high resolution ancestry deconvolution for genomic data”
• AKC: “Chihuahua”
• Project Coyote: “Dogs and Coyotes”
• Science.org: “The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas”
• Current Biology: “Sizing up dogs”
• The Conversation: “Chihuahua dogs are part coyote—this might help explain their ‘small but mighty’ reputation”

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That’s right! A viral fall tradition is making its annual comeback on TikTok and Instagram, and it’s giving everyone’s favorite seasonal coffee order an adorable twist. You might have seen this trend pop up on your feed in previous years, but if you’ve never actually tried it yourself, consider this your sign to finally get in on the fun. And the best part? You don’t need to be a social media influencer to join the pumpkin party.

Read on to find out what this viral pumpkin spice latte trend is all about, how to try it yourself and a few ways you can give your typical PSL a festive fall makeover.

How are people getting these PSLs in actual pumpkins?

@macyhorman0 Happy September 1st! 🤎 Pumpkin Spice Latte, but make it festive!! #starbucks #fallseason #fallvibes #starbucksdrinks #pumpkinseason ♬ orijinal ses – gilmore🍂☕️

People are bringing their own hollowed-out mini pumpkins to Starbucks and asking baristas to pour their pumpkin spice lattes straight into them. Some lucky customers have even gotten the full treatment, complete with a swirl of whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin spice on top.

But don’t expect every Starbucks to be on board. Many baristas turn down these requests because of food-safety rules. After all, a pumpkin isn’t exactly a standard coffee cup.

Luckily, there’s an easy workaround. Bring your own clean, hollowed-out mini pumpkin and order your PSL as usual. If the barista can’t serve it directly in your pumpkin, simply pour the drink in yourself after picking up your order. You can also ask for whipped cream on the side to give your pumpkin cup that picture-perfect finishing touch. Just like that, you’ve got yourself a viral-worthy fall drink!

What are the potential health concerns?

Drinking a PSL out of a real pumpkin might look cute on camera, but it comes with a few potential problems. For one, pumpkins can carry dirt and bacteria on their skin. If they aren’t properly washed and hollowed out, you could end up with more than just pumpkin spice in your latte.

And it’s not just your own health that cafes like Starbucks have to worry about. Bringing a raw pumpkin behind the counter could introduce dirt, bacteria and other contaminants into an area where drinks are prepared. There’s also the risk of cross-contamination if the pumpkin touches equipment or food-preparation surfaces. That’s why baristas may refuse to fill your pumpkin directly. They have food-safety standards to follow, and a mystery gourd from someone’s kitchen isn’t exactly an approved coffee cup!

Hot drinks are another concern. Pouring a steaming PSL into a raw pumpkin can soften the flesh and potentially cause leaks. And if your pumpkin has been sitting around since your last carving session, that’s a definite no-go. Cut pumpkins can spoil and grow bacteria or mold over time.

Your best bet? Use a fresh pumpkin that’s been thoroughly cleaned and hollowed out right before serving. Better yet, pop a small food-safe cup inside the pumpkin and pour your latte into that. You’ll get the same adorable fall aesthetic without having to wonder whether your pumpkin is actually safe to drink from.

What other PSL hacks can you try?

A pumpkin cup isn’t the only way to make your PSL feel a little more special. Here are a few easy upgrades worth trying on your next coffee run.

• Add pumpkin cream cold foam. Top your iced PSL with pumpkin cream cold foam for an extra creamy sip.
• Swap in oat milk. Its creamy texture pairs perfectly with pumpkin spice and gives your latte a slightly different nutty flavor.
• Ask for extra pumpkin spice topping. A little more cinnamon and spice on top? Yes, please.
• Add an espresso shot. If you like your coffee strong, an extra shot can balance out the sweetness while giving you an extra caffeine boost.
• Add a pump of chai. Love a dirty chai? Try adding a little chai concentrate to your PSL for an extra kick of warm spices. It’s like combining two of fall’s coziest drinks into one.
• Turn it into an affogato. Pour a freshly made PSL over a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a pumpkin-spiced twist on the classic Italian dessert.

Who knew there were so many ways to make pumpkin spice season even better?

Source:

• TikTok: @macyhorman

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To find out, we rounded up the scariest horror movies released each year from 1950 to 2005. We looked at Rotten Tomatoes’ best horror movie rankings, along with critical reviews, audience reactions and each film’s reputation for delivering serious scares. After all, a movie can earn rave reviews without making you want to check under your bed. (And where’s the fun in that?)

Ready to meet the movie that was terrifying audiences the year you were born? Read on to find your birth year’s scariest film. Just don’t blame us if you end up sleeping with the lights on.

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What was the scariest movie the year you were born?

From sinister black-and-white thrillers to terrifying supernatural encounters, horror movies have been giving audiences nightmares for generations. Here are the scariest movies released each year from 1950 to 2005.

1950 to 1959

• 1950: House by the River, directed by Fritz Lang
• 1951: The Thing from Another World, directed by Christian Nyby
• 1952: The White Reindeer, directed by Erik Blomberg
• 1953: House of Wax, directed by André De Toth
• 1954: Them!, directed by Gordon Douglas
• 1955: Diabolique, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
• 1956: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directed by Don Siegel
• 1957: Night of the Demon, directed by Jacques Tourneur
• 1958: The Fly, directed by Kurt Neumann
• 1959: House on Haunted Hill, directed by William Castle

1960 to 1969

• 1960: Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• 1961: The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton
• 1962: Carnival of Souls, directed by Herk Harvey
• 1963: The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise
• 1964: Onibaba, directed by Kaneto Shindō
• 1965: Repulsion, directed by Roman Polanski
• 1966: Kill, Baby … Kill!, directed by Mario Bava
• 1967: Viy, directed by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov
• 1968: Night of the Living Dead, directed by George A. Romero
• 1969: The Cremator, directed by Juraj Herz

1970 to 1979

• 1970: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, directed by Dario Argento
• 1971: Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, directed by John D. Hancock
• 1972: The Last House on the Left, directed by Wes Craven
• 1973: The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin
• 1974: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper
• 1975: Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg
• 1976: The Omen, directed by Richard Donner
• 1977: Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento
• 1978: Halloween, directed by John Carpenter
• 1979: Alien, directed by Ridley Scott

1980 to 1989

• 1980: The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick
• 1981: The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi
• 1982: The Thing, directed by John Carpenter
• 1983: The Entity, directed by Sidney J. Furie
• 1984: A Nightmare on Elm Street, directed by Wes Craven
• 1985: Day of the Dead, directed by George A. Romero
• 1986: The Fly, directed by David Cronenberg
• 1987: Hellraiser, directed by Clive Barker
• 1988: The Vanishing, directed by George Sluizer
• 1989: Pet Sematary, directed by Mary Lambert

1990 to 1999

• 1990: Misery, directed by Rob Reiner
• 1991: The Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme
• 1992: Candyman, directed by Bernard Rose
• 1993: Body Snatchers, directed by Abel Ferrara
• 1994: In the Mouth of Madness, directed by John Carpenter
• 1995: Se7en, directed by David Fincher
• 1996: Scream, directed by Wes Craven
• 1997: Event Horizon, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
• 1998: Ringu, directed by Hideo Nakata
• 1999: The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

2000 to 2005

• 2000: Final Destination, directed by James Wong
• 2001: The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenábar
• 2002: The Ring, directed by Gore Verbinski
• 2003: A Tale of Two Sisters, directed by Kim Jee-woon
• 2004: Saw, directed by James Wan
• 2005: The Descent, directed by Neil Marshall

What is the most popular scary movie of all time?

If there’s one horror movie that deserves a permanent spot in the nightmare hall of fame, it’s The Exorcist (1973). Directed by William Friedkin, the film follows a 12-year-old girl named Regan who becomes possessed by a demon, leaving her desperate mother to seek help from two priests. Sounds creepy enough, right? Well, audiences in 1973 were reportedly fainting and feeling sick in theaters. The movie became a massive box-office hit and made history as the first horror film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. And more than 50 years later, it’s still giving people the chills. In fact, The Exorcist took the No. 1 spot in a Rotten Tomatoes poll of the scariest horror movies ever made, earning 19% of the votes. It also holds a 78% critics score and an impressive 87% audience score on the site.

Of course, The Exorcist isn’t the only horror movie that’s earned a reputation for keeping viewers up at night. Hereditary (2018), a deeply unsettling story about a grieving family with some seriously disturbing secrets, came in second in the Rotten Tomatoes poll. Other fan favorites include The Conjuring (2013), which follows paranormal investigators tackling a terrifying haunting, and The Shining (1980), in which Jack Nicholson’s character slowly loses his mind at an isolated hotel. And who could forget The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)? That one made us think twice about taking a wrong turn on a road trip.

What is the scariest movie of all time?

Think you can sit through any horror movie without flinching? Sinister (2012) might have you eating those words (and hiding behind a pillow). Directed by Scott Derrickson, this supernatural nightmare stars Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who moves his family into a house with a gruesome past. When he discovers a box of disturbing home movies, things go from creepy to downright terrifying.

And there’s science to back up the scares! The Science of Scare Project crowned Sinister the scariest movie of all time, giving it a whopping 96 out of 100 on its Scare Score. Researchers monitored viewers’ heart rates and found that the film sent their pulses racing, with heart rates peaking at 131 beats per minute. Yikes! Horror experts at Bloody Disgusting have also highlighted the film’s reputation, while Dread Central reported that it reclaimed the top spot in the study’s 2025 rankings. Of course, everyone’s fear factor is different, but when a movie can make your heart race like that, you might want to leave a light on. Just saying.

Sources:

• Dread Central: “Now on Hulu and Tubi: ‘Black Phone 2’ Director’s Horror Movie Proven by Study to Be the Scariest Ever Made”
• Bloody Disgusting: “The Science of Scare: Scientific Study Tracks Heart Rates to Determine the Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made”
• Money Super Market: “The Science of Scare 2026: The Scariest Movies According to Science”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “The 45 Best 1950s Horror Movies”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “The 10 Scariest Horror Movies Ever”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “The Exorcist”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “The 100 Best 2000s Horror Movies”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “The 100 Best Horror Movies of the 1980s”
• Rotten Tomatoes: “25 Best Horror Movies of Each Year Since 1998”

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And he’s always thrown himself into his craft. As a child, he acted in Royal Shakespeare Company productions, and by the time he turned 8, he had a key role in Les Misérables in London’s West End. But on this side of the pond, he’s probably best known for starring as the rakish Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton and the charming Prince Fiyero Tigelaar in Wicked.

Well, now he’s in a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and even though the role is voice only, his natural charisma is on full display. This full-cast adaptation of the horror masterpiece has Bailey working that accent—and that go-for-it attitude … in a way you have to hear to believe. (We also have a behind-the-scenes visual peek too.)

Read on to get all the details on the buzziest adaptation of the vampire classic to hit the scene in years, starring the world’s most versatile Brit. Everyone, grab your Victorian-era fan, because it’s about to get hot in here.

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Why are people losing their minds over this Audible version of Dracula?

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I mean, have you seen the clip? It’s pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you’re shy: Bailey is extremely committed to the role of the blood-sucking vamp. He seduces Mina Murray, the prim yet resourceful Victorian-ideal schoolteacher and protagonist voiced by Ella Purnell, with lusty, breathy vengeance, imploring her to drink his blood.

Which she does, of course. And who could blame her? Dracula has always been a study in longing and desire, but Bailey’s Dracula takes it to another level—his deep voice is simultaneously smooth, calm and demanding. Plus, he has his shirt unbuttoned and is busying his hands on his chest in a pretty distracting way.

The internet definitely has thoughts, and some of them can even be printed here!

• “This was not what Dracula sounded like when I read it in junior high, I’ll just say that,” said one Redditor.
• “It’s things like this where I REALLY admire an actor’s confidence,” said another.
• “We all need cigarettes after this … and I don’t even smoke,” an Instagram user quipped.

What’s unique about this Dracula audiobook?

This full-cast reading of Dracula reimagines the hunt for the Transylvanian killer as a fast-paced psychological thriller, according to multiple reviews. It’s described as similar to an old-fashioned “radio play” rather than a traditional audiobook narration, with Mina taking a central role in piecing together what happened to her fiancé, Jonathan Harker.

The adaptation, an Audible Original, is one of dozens of narrative readings of Dracula over the years, the most famous probably being 2013’s version starring Tim Curry as Professor Van Helsing, the famed vampire slayer. Here, Maggie Gyllenhaal steps into the role after nearly 10 years away from acting. Additional stars include The White Lotus‘s Amiee Lou Wood and Tony Award winner Lesley Manville.

Another difference is that there’s a person playing Dracula at all. If you’ve read the book, you know that Dracula is an epistolary novel, meaning it’s told through letters, journals and other characters’ recollections. In some previous audiobook adaptations, including the 2013 version, Dracula did not have a voice actor. But Bailey’s Dracula is a fully fleshed out character—and he really throws himself into the role.

What is Jonathan Bailey really tapping into here?

If you haven’t noticed, yearning is the buzzword of the year, and Bailey’s take on the seductive count really has a line on this urgency. The slow-burn yearn particularly resonates with Gen Z, who have grown up in an era of instant gratification. Young people are looking for romance and longing, and everything from Hollywood to Google Trends data reflects that.

Searches for “yearning TV” are up 5,000% (not a typo) this year, and we have no doubt that mega hits Heated Rivalry and Sterling Point were added to many a must-watch list because of this trend. Then there’s the Jacob Elordi/Margot Robbie weeper Wuthering Heights, which got a revamp in February, and the new Sense and Sensibility adaptation out in October.

Bailey talks about yearning as a key inspiration for his portrayal. “[There’s] so much desire, yearning and fear,” he told Bustle. “Anything perceived as disallowed or unavailable becomes so much sweeter.” Humans are “innately curious beings, and the curiosity—if straitjacketed and harnessed—has to go somewhere,” he added, saying horror is a logical outlet for pent-up desires and just as cathartic as joy or euphoria.

“No matter where you are in the world and whatever your life experience is, there’s always something we’re craving that we can’t have,” he said.

When can we get our hands on Dracula?

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Listen on Audible

Just point your cursor to your browser’s search bar and head over to Audible. The new Dracula is out now and can be yours to keep for $15.99. You can also sign up for an Audible subscription, which comes with a free 30-day trial. Amazon Prime members get two months to try it out for free.

The new adaptation is six hours long, which is actually much shorter than the average Audible book, so you can probably finish it over a weekend. But we won’t tell anyone if you speed-listen in a single day—with a voice like Bailey’s, why wouldn’t you?

Sources:

• Audible: “Bram Stoker’s Dracula“
• Bustle: “In Dracula, Jonathan Bailey Consumes You”
• Center for Scholars & Storytellers: “Yearning for Yearning: What Teens Want From On-Screen Romance”
• New Yorker: “Learning to Yearn with Georgia Oakley”
• @radiotimes on Instagram
• Reddit: “First Look at Jonathan Bailey as Dracula and Ella Purnell as Mina Murray for the all-new Audible Original, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula'”
• Google Trends: “Yearning TV”

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As we mercifully move into winter after summer’s record temps, you’ve probably been hearing all sorts of predictions about El Niño, that mysterious little weather pattern that pops up every so often like a bratty little brother. Well, he’s back again, and this year, he’s super-charged. What does that mean, and who will feel the impacts the most?

Ahead, we’ll take a look at which states El Niño will be visiting this winter (sorry in advance—it’s a lot), and which ones might be spared. Read on to learn everything you ever wanted to know about El Niño.

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What is El Niño again, exactly?

El Niño, which is Spanish for “little boy,” is a weather phenomenon that brings warmer-than-normal temperatures to the Pacific Ocean and creates weather disruptions across the country. It’s the “warm phase” of what’s called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather pattern, a natural cycle that controls where ocean heat is dissipated into the atmosphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

What causes El Niño?

In a normal year, the trade winds—which really are called that because they’ve historically helped sailors get across the Pacific Ocean to trade goods—blow west along the equator toward Asia, bringing the warm ocean water with them.

But in an El Niño year, those trade winds instead push back toward South America. The warm waters of the Pacific camp out off the coast of the Americas instead of traveling over to Asia, and this causes the jet stream to shift southward, bringing wild weather disruptions, from flooding to droughts, to much of the U.S.

El Niño and his sister weather pattern, La Niña (“little girl”), occur roughly every two to seven years, but they’re not on a fixed schedule, and scientists still aren’t sure exactly why they happen when they do. They typically last six to 12 months each cycle, but sometimes they go on much longer—even years.

The last El Niño year was from 2023 through 2024, but sometimes we have a “super” El Niño, which is even stronger than usual. The last time we saw one of those was a decade ago, but as you’ll see coming up, we’re in store for another.

Why are experts predicting that we’ll have a “super” El Niño in 2026?

It has to do with the temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists at NOAA declare an El Niño year when the temp reaches 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than average for multiple months in a row. This year, by August 2026, they were already up 2.0 degrees, and on Sept. 10, 2026, Pacific temps were sitting at more than 3.0 degrees higher than usual.

That led NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center to say with greater than 90% certainty that we’re in a “very strong” El Niño year. (Sadly, they don’t officially use the word super.) The weather phenomenon tends to peak in December—early sailors called the pattern El Niño de Navidad because it often coincided with Christmas—meaning we’re barely getting into the thick of it.

What does this mean for weather in the U.S.? Across the South and Southwest, El Niños bring heavy rain and flooding, while in the Pacific Northwest, the weather tends to be drier and hotter than usual. But El Niño doesn’t just affect the U.S. The added heat in the atmosphere from those warm Pacific waters causes temps to rise around the world, which can lead to catastrophic flooding and droughts, depending on the particular location.

Which states will get hit the hardest this year?

A lot of them. El Niño tends to be unpredictable, but at least 40 states could be impacted. Here’s the breakdown.

The South

Meteorologist Heather Zons, from The Weather Channel, told Newsweek that the entire southern U.S.—from Southern California all the way to Florida—will likely have heavier-than-average rainfall this winter. Particularly vulnerable states include Arizona and New Mexico, which could see flooding sweep through canyons and previously dry washes.

South Florida is another spot that could see flooding risks intensify with the super El Niño, according to Vons, because heavy development in that part of the Sunshine State doesn’t give water many places to soak into the sandy soil. Miami already gets lots of nuisance flooding in a good year, and this year, the rain will be worse than normal.

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley

Vons also called out the Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley states. El Niño generally brings warmer-than-usual temps across this part of the country, so residents from Minnesota, all the way over to upstate New York and down to Kentucky could experience more precipitation in the form of rain instead of snow, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

New England and the Atlantic seaboard

According to the USGS, the Northeast will also likely get hit by heavier nor’easters and more frequent coastal storms. And the entire Atlantic seaboard will likely get heavier precipitation this winter. One bright spot: The Atlantic hurricane season is already shaping up to be fairly light, which is typical in an El Niño year.

Hawaii

Our only island state sits smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific weather patterns that cause El Niño, so it and our island territories will get the brunt of its effects. The USGS says these areas will experience more storms and increased tropical-cyclone risks. In contrast to the Atlantic hurricane season, the Pacific one is “running well above normal.”

Which states might escape the worst of it?

Unfortunately, this year’s super El Niño will leave very few places in the U.S. alone. Here are the states and regions that may avoid the most severe precipitation and flooding events.

• Alaska: Minimal impacts are expected here, primarily because it’s so far away.
• Pacific Northwest: This region, which includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho, may see the current drought intensify, but it typically has fewer severe precipitation events during El Niño years. That doesn’t bode well for snowpack and the replenishment of reservoirs, but if you’re looking to avoid getting drenched, that’s something.
• Northern Rockies and Plains: Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas should see warmer weather and less-than-average precipitation, according to the USGS.
• Southern Rockies: Colorado and Utah should get a decent amount of snowfall this year, making skiers happy, but they may escape the most severe El Niño effects.

Sources:

• NOAA: “What are El Niño and La Niña?”
• NPR: “Super El Niño is here. What’s so super about it?”
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography: “What Is El Niño and What Makes This a Very Strong El Niño?”
• USGS: “2026 El Niño: What Does It Mean for Resource Managers?”
• Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact: “Climate Indicators High Tide Flooding”
• Newsweek: “Map Shows States Most Exposed to El Niño Flood Risk”

Outdated Weather Myths That Are Dangerous

How to Predict the Weather from Clouds

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The post These 40 States Will Be Slammed Hardest by El Niño—And These 10 Might Get Off Easy appeared first on Reader's Digest.

So what will everyone be dressing up as in 2026? Spirit Halloween just revealed its best costumes of the year, and you’ll see some familiar favorites along with plenty of new looks based on what’s trending right now. “The reality is we’re watching them develop all year long,” said Kym Sarkos, the executive vice president of Spirit Halloween, in a press release. “From blockbuster entertainment and gaming to social media and nostalgia, our team is constantly tracking what’s capturing attention so we can be ready with the looks fans want most.”

Ready to start planning your Halloween costume? Read on to see which looks will be everywhere this All Hallows’ Eve, and find some inspiration for your own Oct. 31 ensemble.

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What are the most popular costumes of 2026?

According to Spirit Halloween, these costumes will be coming to a Halloween party near you.

Greek mythology

Togas are having a blockbuster year. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey turned Greek mythology into one of 2026’s biggest entertainment events, passing $1 billion at the worldwide box office and bringing along a truly Olympian cast: Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, plus Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o. So if Halloween suddenly looks overrun with Greek warriors, Greek gods and flowing cloaks, you know who to blame.

Superheroes

Superheroes are always a Halloween staple, and 2026 has given fans approximately zero reasons to hang up their capes. Spider-Man: Brand New Day dominated the summer box office, earning a whopping $2.5 billion worldwide, so expect Tom Holland–inspired Spideys to be swinging from party to party.

And the Marvel hype isn’t slowing down: Avengers: Doomsday arrives in December with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Florence Pugh and a ridiculously stacked roster of heroes. Spider-Man is an easy solo pick, but with this many Marvel characters in play, assembling your own Avengers might be even more fun.

Toy Story

To infinity, beyond and straight to the Halloween party. Woody, Buzz and Jessie came back in a big way thanks to Toy Story 5, which gave the beloved Pixar crew their first big-screen adventure since 2019. It also earned more than $1.1 billion worldwide in the process (not to mention 20 million views in the first five days of being released on Disney+). Whether you go classic cowboy or space ranger, expect plenty of familiar faces at the door this Halloween.

Y2K and “It girl” icons

Break out the tiny sunglasses and enough rhinestones to make your flip phone jealous: Y2K refuses to stay in the past. The “It girl” aesthetic has been hanging around for a few years, but 2026 gave it another pop-culture boost as Hollywood revisited some of the era’s most memorable styles. The Devil Wears Prada 2 brought Miranda Priestly and Andy Sachs back 20 years after the original, while Elle returned to the candy-colored world of Legally Blonde. Whether your inspiration is Elle Woods or your favorite early-aughts rom-com heroine, this is one costume category where more is definitely more.

KPop Demon Hunters

Apparently, one Halloween simply wasn’t enough for HUNTR/X. KPop Demon Hunters costumes were everywhere in 2025, and Rumi, Mira and Zoey are back for an encore after the Netflix phenomenon continued to get even bigger. The movie’s music conquered the charts, and a sequel is officially on the way. Translation: Grab two friends, cue up “Golden” and don’t be surprised if your HUNTR/X trio runs into another HUNTR/X trio before the night is over.

Hard-core horror

Pure, unfiltered terror never goes out of style, and horror fans have had plenty of fresh nightmare fuel in 2026. The horror renaissance is still going strong, bringing viral internet monsters and relentless slashers together under one very bloody roof. Scream 7 led this year’s horror box office, while movies like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Return to Silent Hill kept things decidedly unsettling. And, of course, Michael Myers and his ilk aren’t disappearing anytime soon.

Gaming

Why leave your favorite character on the screen? Gaming costumes are leveling up for Halloween, with Fortnite and Halo leading the charge. Fortnite alone has been a crossover machine in 2026, adding everything from new Batman, Harley Quinn and Catwoman looks to The Odyssey, The Amazing Digital Circus and even Madison Beer. That means you can technically dress like a movie character or pop star and still claim you came as a Fortnite skin. We respect the loophole.

Source:

• PR Newswire: “Because Spirit Said So: The Definitive 2026 Halloween Costume Trend Report”
• Deadline: “‘Toy Story 5’ Giddy-Ups to 20 Million Views in First Five Days On Disney+”
• ComingSoon.net: “Spider-Man: Brand New Day Digital Streaming Release Date Finally Set for Record-Breaking MCU Movie”

Halloween Costume Ideas That Will Win the Night

Why Do We Bob for Apples on Halloween?

The History of Orange and Black as Halloween Colors

The post Can’t Decide What to Be for Halloween? Spirit Halloween Just Revealed the Most Popular Costumes of 2026 appeared first on Reader's Digest.

To find out how ghosts became the spectral figures we picture in ghost stories, we spoke with Susan Owens, PhD, author of The Ghost: A Cultural History, and Troy Taylor, co-host of the American Hauntings Podcast. We traced their changing appearance through the ages and even found out what paranormal experts believe ghosts actually look like. (Spoiler: Hollywood may not have the whole story.)

Read on to discover how ghosts got their signature look and why there’s much more to their color than meets the eye.

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Were ghosts always depicted in white?

Nope. Although a pale, translucent figure might be our default mental image of a ghost today, there has never been one universal way to picture the dead. Depending on the culture and context, ghosts and spirits have been imagined as everything from ordinary-looking people to shadowy figures, skeletons and decaying corpses. Some weren’t even depicted in human form.

“Artists have always had to find a way of representing ghosts that makes it clear they are uncanny beings, not just normal people,” says Owens, who was also the former curator of paintings at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. “In the distant past, ghosts were often depicted with a deathly pallor, though not necessarily white. On the other hand, ancient ghost images could equally well be carved in stone or vividly colored.”

In other words, there wasn’t an ancient rule book that said ghosts had to be white. Often, Owens says, “it is the context that reveals a figure’s ghostliness.” And while burial shrouds would eventually play an important role in how people pictured the returning dead, the white, translucent and human-shaped ghost we instantly recognize now took centuries to develop.

How did ghosts turn into the spectral figures that we imagine today?

Ghosts have taken a surprisingly winding path from frightening walking corpses to the pale, see-through spirits that haunt our movies and Halloween decorations. Here’s how their signature look evolved.

Medieval ghosts looked like the dead come back to life

Long before anyone imagined ghosts floating around, ancient cultures had their own ideas about what happened when the dead returned, and that includes the Greeks. In Homer’s Odyssey, for example, when Odysseus encounters the dead in the Underworld, they have a shadowy appearance rather than that familiar glowing white. By the Middle Ages, depictions of ghosts in Britain were considerably more gruesome. “These ghosts are corporeal—they look as though they have climbed out of their graves,” says Owens. “Some are walking skeletons; others are decomposing bodies with scraps of gray, rotting shrouds clinging to them.”

Those shrouds are an important early piece of the white-ghost story. Many representations of ghosts from the medieval period up to the 18th century are very literal and were meant to be shocking. “They were supposed to remind you of the brevity of life and the terrifying closeness of death,” Owens says. “They came with a moral message: Mend your ways, because soon enough you will be like us.”

And there was another ghastly component to these spectral appearances: People believed that a human spirit might temporarily leave purgatory and enter something else to communicate with the living. “There are written accounts of human spirits inhabiting crows, dogs or even bits of tarpaulin seen rolling around in a strange and uncanny way,” Owens says.

Stage productions gave ghosts a supernatural presence

By the 16th century, ghosts were getting starring roles in the theater—and their burial clothes came with them. “Sixteenth-century drama was full of ghosts, and audiences used to laugh at how badly they were portrayed on stage, with actors clad in filthy shrouds, running around and screaming,” says Owens. “It wasn’t very dignified, by all accounts.”

Clearly, a shroud alone wasn’t enough to make a convincing apparition. Shakespeare found other ways to signal the supernatural. The ghost of Hamlet’s father, for instance, appears in armor rather than white fabric, another reminder that there still wasn’t a standard ghost costume. “We never find out, for instance, whether Old Hamlet is who he claims to be, a ghost temporarily released from purgatory—or a bad spirit, leading Hamlet astray,” says Owens.

Theater also posed a practical problem that would eventually transform the ghost’s appearance: How do you put something supposedly otherworldly on stage when the audience can plainly see a flesh-and-blood actor? The answer would eventually involve a lot more than a costume.

The 18th century transformed the ghost

By the late 18th century, ghosts were starting to look a lot more familiar, thanks to an unlikely combination of art and entertainment. Artists like George Romney and John Flaxman began depicting ghosts draped in flowing fabric inspired by ancient Greek clothing. Instead of showing the dead body, they concealed it beneath billowing material, creating an eerie silhouette. “Both artists create the impression of mystery and awe by concealment and a strange silhouette,” Owens says. “It’s a world away from the medieval walking corpse.”

Burial customs were shifting too. As traditional shrouds gave way to white linen burial clothes, ghosts began appearing in similar garments in popular illustrations. But what about the whole see-through thing? That came from phantasmagoria, an early form of horror entertainment where magic lanterns projected ghostly figures that seemed to float, move and disappear. “The idea that ghosts are see-through seems natural, since it signals simultaneous presence and absence,” Owens says. “But in Britain, ghosts only acquired this attribute in the late 18th century.” Before then, ghosts were generally described as solid figures, even when they did things like walk through walls.

By the 1800s, ghosts were becoming recognizable

By the early 1800s, the sight of someone dressed in white was enough to spark a ghost scare. “The Hammersmith Ghost episode of 1803–04 is probably the best example of a ghost in a white sheet,” says Taylor. “People around Hammersmith, London, reported a terrifying apparition that was generally described as tall and dressed in white.” The panic got so bad that locals organized armed patrols. On Jan. 3, 1804, Francis Smith mistook bricklayer Thomas Millwood, who was wearing white work clothes, for the supposed ghost and shot him dead. “As it turned out, it was no ghost,” Taylor says.

Meanwhile, literature was giving ghosts an even more otherworldly look. In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), Jacob Marley appears so transparent that Scrooge can actually see through him. Ghosts weren’t just dead people walking around anymore. They could look human while defying the rules of the physical world.

Victorian technology made ghosts even more spectral

If the 18th century introduced the transparent ghost, Victorian technology made it more convincing than ever. Photography brought us spirit photographs, which supposedly captured faint, ghostly figures alongside living people. Then, in the 1860s, came Pepper’s Ghost, a theatrical illusion that used glass, lighting and a hidden performer to make a transparent figure appear on stage.

Developed from an idea by engineer Henry Dircks and popularized by showman John Henry Pepper, the trick allowed ghosts to seemingly materialize, fade and stand beside living actors. It was quite a leap from performers running around in dirty shrouds.

Then, over in the world of ghost stories, writers like Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James and M.R. James explored “the terrifying idea of the past that will never stay in the past, but keeps bursting into the present,” Owens says. And there was no longer one way for a ghost to look or behave. “In this period, there was a lot of competition, and writers became immensely inventive about the forms in which their ghosts appeared,” Owens explains. Ghosts could be solid or transparent, human or monstrous. But the pale, white-draped, barely there figure we recognize today had become a familiar part of the supernatural imagination.

Movies and cartoons solidified the ghosts we know today

By the 20th century, the sheet ghost was getting its big break in pop culture. And according to Taylor, movies and cartoons helped make the image stick. The 1920 silent comedy Haunted Spooks, starring Harold Lloyd, was an early example. It played with the idea of people manufacturing ghostly appearances in a supposedly haunted house.

Disney helped take things further. “The most important cartoon when it comes to the ghost in a sheet image is undoubtedly Disney’s Lonesome Ghosts, which came out in 1937,” Taylor says. The cartoon features four floating, semi-transparent spirits who summon Mickey, Donald and Goofy to their haunted house. Then came Casper the Friendly Ghost in 1945, with his rounded white body and floating silhouette, followed by Charlie Brown’s sheet ghost costume in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in 1966.

“Cartoons and comics didn’t invent the idea of the ‘white sheet ghost,’ but they certainly cemented the idea in popular culture,” Taylor says.

What color do paranormal experts believe ghosts actually are?

There’s no official ghost color, and historical reports suggest white isn’t even the norm. “Most historical reports find that apparitions are fully or mostly lifelike,” says Taylor. Witnesses often describe figures that look like ordinary people, right down to their clothing, facial hair and accessories. Some appear so solid that they’re initially mistaken for someone living.

But what about color? Taylor says witnesses have described apparitions as “grayish, white, sepia-toned or lacking in color,” particularly in poor lighting. Others report dark, human-shaped shadows or, less commonly, figures that seem to glow.

And some accounts are even stranger. Psychical researcher G.N.M. Tyrrell examined reports of figures whose reflections appeared in mirrors, whose footsteps could be heard and who sometimes even spoke or gestured, much like living people.

So, according to the reports, ghosts can be solid-looking, transparent or even luminous—but there’s no evidence they have one actual Halloween color. And scientifically, of course, none of these accounts proves that ghosts exist in the first place. We’ll leave that answer up to you … and whatever goes bump in the night.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on why ghosts are depicted as white, writer Mariah Thomas tapped her experience covering history, holidays and more for Reader’s Digest. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Susan Owens, PhD, award-winning writer, former curator of paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and author of The Ghost: A Cultural History; email interview, Oct. 6, 2026
• Troy Taylor, paranormal expert and co-host of the American Hauntings Podcast; email interview, Oct. 7, 2026
• PSI Encyclopedia; “Ghosts and Apparitions in Psi Research”
• UVA School of Medicine: “The Contribution of Apparitions to the Evidence for Survival”
• Regency Fiction Writers: “The Hammersmith Ghost”

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Spooktastic Halloween Jokes

The post Here’s Why We Always Picture Ghosts in White—And What Paranormal Experts Think They Actually Look Like appeared first on Reader's Digest.

For this episode of The Reader’s Digest Escalator Interview, we caught up with Painter to talk about Trust Fall, her life as a romance writer and, naturally, all the bookish questions we really wanted answers to. She shared the first romance novel she ever fell in love with, made a case for the genre she thinks deserves a little more attention and revealed her favorite character in a love story—and here’s a hint: You’ll find this one dancing through La La Land. We also got into the stories and characters that have made readers fall for her books again and again, as well as what keeps her falling for a great romance.

Read on for our exclusive interview with Lynn Painter, and shop her recommended reads below!

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Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece, Leigh Belz Ray interviewed author Lynn Painter. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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My mom gave out full-size Hershey bars when I was a kid, a practice she got from her mom that I continue today, though after that symbolic first box, I switch to my peanut-buttery faves. You know, just in case the ghost-and-goblin traffic is light and I end up with extras. (So sad!)

How do you pick your Halloween candy? Do you go with what’s popular, what’s cheap or whatever’s available when you race to the store to restock when the hordes are fast approaching and you just ran out of candy? Well, DoorDash decided to quantify this choice for people all across the country, and we’re bringing them to you now.

Coming up, we have the most popular Halloween candy in every state in 2026, according to real DoorDash numbers. Keep reading to see if you align with your state’s most popular candy.

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How did the report determine the most popular candy in the country?

This contest went straight to the source: DoorDash receipts. To find out which Halloween candy is the most popular in each state and across the country, DoorDash analyzed customer candy orders from last year (between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025, when everyone was stocking up on Halloween candy) to see what might be popular this year.

The results were a range of old favorites and up-and-comers that have muscled their way into top spots. Here’s the full ranking, followed by national and regional trends.

What is the most popular candy in each state?

This contest wasn’t even close. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups swept to victory in 17 states this year—that’s a full third of the country. My mom’s go-to, the Hershey bar, made the list too, along with some regional favorites and non-chocolate choices like Laffy Taffy and Sweetarts.

Here’s the most popular Halloween candy in every state, according to DoorDash.

• Alabama: Sweet Smiles Candy
• Alaska: Lindt
• Arizona: Red Vines
• Arkansas: Sweet Smiles Candy
• California: Red Vines
• Colorado: Haribo
• Connecticut: Sour Patch Kids
• Delaware: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Florida: Airheads
• Georgia: Sweet Smiles Candy
• Hawaii: Lindt
• Idaho: Sweetarts
• Illinois: Sour Patch Kids
• Indiana: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Iowa: Laffy Taffy
• Kansas: Sweetarts
• Kentucky: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Louisiana: Sweet Smiles Candy
• Maine: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Maryland: Snickers
• Massachusetts: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Michigan: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Minnesota: Mike & Ike
• Mississippi: Sweet Smiles Candy
• Missouri: Twizzlers
• Montana: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Nebraska: Laffy Taffy
• Nevada: Snickers
• New Hampshire: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• New Jersey: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• New Mexico: Sweetarts
• New York: Kinder Bueno
• North Carolina: Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar
• North Dakota: Laffy Taffy
• Ohio: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Oklahoma: Sweetarts
• Oregon: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Pennsylvania: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Rhode Island: Kinder Bueno
• South Carolina: Sweet Smiles Candy
• South Dakota: Laffy Taffy
• Tennessee: Sweet Smiles Candy
• Texas: Airheads
• Utah: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Vermont: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Virginia: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Washington: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• West Virginia: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
• Wisconsin: Laffy Taffy
• Wyoming: Twizzlers

Which candy reigned supreme in the U.S. overall?

For the third year in a row, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups dominated the standings. And while sugary-sweet (or sour, as the case may be) gummy treats made significant strides this year, capturing five of the top 10 spots, chocolate still came out on top overall. The top four favorite Halloween candies in the U.S. are chocolate-based goodies, along with KitKat, which came in at No. 10 (but, interestingly, did not earn a state ranking).

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
2. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar
3. M&M’s
4. Snickers
5. Nerds
6. Skittles
7. Airheads
8. Sour Patch Kids
9. Haribo
10. KitKat

How did this break down by region?

Taking a look at the map, it’s clear that where you live matters when it comes to what you might find in your kid’s Halloween bucket this year—though we know one choice will be thoroughly represented. Reese’s has a stranglehold in New England, the Rust Belt, the Mid-Atlantic and the Pacific Northwest.

Laffy Taffy pulls most of its fans from the upper Midwest, while across the South, the private-label Sweet Smiles Candy, which is sold at Dollar Stores, dominates in seven Southern states and nowhere else. Sweetarts is popular in the Southwest states of New Mexico and Oklahoma, plus Kansas and Idaho, but is absent east of the Mississippi.

Red Vines and its licorice nemesis, Twizzlers, each bagged two states, with the iconic Vines repping the West via California and Arizona, and Twizzlers making its stand rather randomly in Wyoming and Missouri.

Were there any big surprises?

DoorDash reports that old-fashioned candy is making some headway this year, with the formerly dust-gathering Circus Peanuts up 350% in 2026 and Bit-O-Honey up 180%. Lemonheads, those delicious little pebbles of sour goodness, are also back: They’re up 200%. And Dum-Dums suckers aren’t just for the bank anymore, as interest doubled from last year.

Even lowly candy corn is asserting itself, possibly due to a massive publicity push by Brach’s, which includes a candy corn perfume, if you can believe it. Purchases of the love-’em-or-hate-’em striped sugar triangles are up 30% from last year. On the other end of the spectrum, my mom will be thrilled that shares of DoorDash orders with full-size candy bars grew to 20%.

Finally, the very last thing children want to discover they failed to avoid at the end of the night, the tiny box of raisins, is somehow up a rather suspicious 60%. Keep your eyes peeled this Halloween, kids, because someone out there made a big purchase.

Source:

• DoorDash: “Sweet, Spicy and a Little Spooky: DoorDash’s Halloween Trends”

Why Every M&M Has an 'M' Stamp

How to Keep Your Dog Safe on Halloween

Why Candy Doesn't Taste Like It Used To

The post This Is the Most Popular Halloween Candy in Your State appeared first on Reader's Digest.

It turns out that behind all that seasonal color is a carefully timed process that helps trees prepare for winter. In other words, there’s more to that fall foliage than meets the eye.

To find out what’s really happening when leaves put on their annual fall show, I spoke with Jason Grabosky, PhD, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, and Jessica A. Savage, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Read on for the details that will make you appreciate all of those gorgeous colors even more.

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What makes a leaf green in the first place?

Time for a quick science refresher: A leaf is green because it contains a pigment called chlorophyll. As Savage explains, that’s what helps plants capture light energy for photosynthesis, the process by which plants make sugars. Chlorophyll absorbs many wavelengths of light but reflects green, which is the color we see.

Throughout the growing season, chlorophyll is constantly made and broken down, keeping leaves green while the tree captures sunlight and produces energy. But as fall approaches, the tree changes its priorities.

Why do leaves change color in the fall?

As summer turns to fall, trees begin preparing for winter. One of their biggest signals is the changing amount of daylight—specifically, the increasing amount of darkness. “When the nighttime gets too long, the tree stops building that molecule because it’s expensive to build and it’s not getting the payout before it rips and breaks again,” Grabosky explains. “It’s too much work.”

As chlorophyll production slows, the green fades. But the tree isn’t simply letting the leaf go to waste. “To avoid losing all of these nutrients when leaves drop, plants reabsorb them in the autumn,” Savage says. The tree begins pulling nutrients out of its leaves and storing them in its branches and trunk, essentially giving itself a little winter savings account.

Why do leaves turn orange, yellow and red, in particular?

Here’s where things get colorful—and interesting. Leaves contain several pigments besides chlorophyll, including carotenoids, which produce yellow and orange hues. These pigments are present during much of the growing season but are masked by green chlorophyll. As the green fades, those yellow and orange tones become increasingly visible. So that gorgeous yellow leaf you’ve spotted in October isn’t necessarily making yellow pigment all of the sudden. In many cases, the yellow was there all along. (Bonus fun fact: One carotenoid, lutein, also causes the yellow color of egg yolks.)

Red is a little different. Red and reddish-purple colors come largely from anthocyanins, pigments that some plants produce in the fall. The right weather can help bring out those reds. “The reds are really dependent on those sunny days where [trees are] getting the energy, along with those really cool nights,” Grabosky says.

But scientists don’t think trees make anthocyanins simply to put on a good show. Savage explains that as the leaf’s chemistry changes, it may become more vulnerable to light-related damage. Anthocyanins may help shield the leaf while the tree finishes its seasonal work.

Why don’t all leaves follow the same color progression?

Leaves don’t necessarily follow a universal green → yellow → orange → red → brown progression. Different species have different pigments and respond differently to changing conditions. “Every species is going to be a little bit different because they’re playing the energy game to compete for light, and each has its own little niche as a species,” Grabosky says.

Some leaves turn yellow and then brown. Others develop orange or red tones. Even leaves on the same tree can vary depending on how much light they receive. Savage calls this a “mosaic of leaf colors.” In sumacs, for example, shaded portions may be less red and more orange.

Weather matters too. “If you’ve got sunny days and cool nights, you’re going to get that more vibrant color,” Grabosky says.

Eventually, the tree forms a specialized layer of cells called an abscission zone, where the leaf meets the branch. Those cells weaken the connection until the leaf can drop. So when a leaf finally flutters to the ground, it isn’t simply falling off. The tree has been carefully preparing to let it go.

Why don’t all trees change color in the fall?

They do—but not necessarily in the way we expect. Evergreens, for example, keep their leaves or needles for multiple years rather than shedding them every fall. Older needles eventually yellow and drop, but the process happens gradually within the canopy, Grabosky explains. Other trees may lose their leaves without producing brilliant fall colors. Drought, pests and other stresses can cause leaves to brown or drop early.

Some oaks and beeches even hold onto their brown leaves through winter. Grabosky says several proposed explanations include the possibility that the bitter dead leaves discourage animals from eating them and help protect next year’s buds. The leaves may also provide some insulation.

In other words, not every tree needs a dramatic fall finale.

Is this a regional thing, or do you get changing leaves everywhere in the country?

You don’t need to live in New England to see leaves change color, but geography makes a big difference in how dramatic the show is. Trees throughout the country receive the seasonal light signal, but farther south, you never really get that vast difference in day length and temperature, Grabosky says. As you move north and higher in elevation, you’re more likely to see a dramatic fall display.

Weather can also change the show within a region. Cool nights can intensify fall colors, particularly reds, while drought can diminish the display and cause leaves to brown or drop early.

The types of trees growing in an area matter just as much. “The plants that occur in one area might be different than those that occur in another,” Savage explains. “Northern Minnesota, for example, has many sugar maples, which can produce brilliant orange and yellow foliage. Florida, meanwhile, has many plants with evergreen leaves, including live oaks and rhododendrons.”

So the spectacular foliage of the Northeast isn’t caused by one magic ingredient. “It’s a combination of the kinds of trees, the amount of darkness and the quality of the cool temperatures,” Grabosky says.

And let’s not forget about the tree’s overall health. “If you have a happy, healthy tree going into the fall, you get a better fall color,” Grabosky says. After a particularly hot or stressful year, the landscape may look different.

Does climate change affect fall foliage?

Climate change may be influencing the timing and intensity of fall foliage. While the seasonal light signal remains the same, says Grabosky, “if we’re having longer, milder falls, we’re going to have conditions for photosynthesis a little bit longer.” That could keep green in the landscape longer and downplay some of the reds and oranges.

Scientists are using aerial photography and satellites to track fall foliage and study how climate change is affecting the timing of plant growth around the world. Even the annual leaf-peeping season can offer clues about a changing climate.

Why do leaves grow back green?

When spring arrives, rising temperatures and longer days signal to the tree that it’s time to resume growth. Interestingly, many trees produce young leaves inside buds during the summer—yes, right before fall. “These leaves remain dormant all winter, and in the spring when the buds open, they expand,” Savage says.

At first, the developing leaves rely on sugars that the tree stored the previous year. Then the new leaf starts producing chlorophyll. “As soon as that happens, Grabosky says, “it becomes its own autonomous unit and starts building itself really quick.” The green leaves spend the spring and summer capturing sunlight and making sugars. The days eventually grow shorter, the tree starts reclaiming nutrients, chlorophyll breaks down and the other colors get their turn.

So the next time you pass a wall of red maples or golden oaks, take a closer look. Fall foliage isn’t just decoration. It’s the visible result of trees responding to light, temperature and their environment while recycling nutrients and preparing for another season. And you don’t need to make a special trip to appreciate the foliage. As Grabosky says, “just get outside and enjoy one leaf at a time.”

Sources:

• Jason Grabosky, PhD, professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University; phone interview, Oct. 5, 2026
• Jessica A. Savage, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth; email interview, Oct. 2, 2026
• UConn Extension: “Fall Foliage Color: How It Happens!”

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The post Here’s What Really Happens to Leaves When They Change Color in the Fall appeared first on Reader's Digest.

We’re stirring up some of the most fascinating facts about witches, witchcraft and more. How many Americans actually believe in witches? More than you might think! Which Swedish holiday features its own witches? Trust us—you won’t guess. And how did centuries of witchcraft, folklore and superstition give us the witches we know today?

From real-life history to Hollywood magic, we’re spilling all the witchy tea ahead.

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Many Americans believe in witches

Across time and around the world, people have been (forgive us) spellbound by witches. Enchanting sorceresses appear in folklore, fairy tales and mythology, but also on stage and screen. Far from the stuff of fiction, about 1 in 4 Americans think witches are real, according to a 2025 Gallup poll.

Witchcraft might be real

Witches are real, in that some people practice modern paganism, which includes Wicca and other nature-­inspired belief systems. There may be as many as 1.5 million witches in the United States. Maine has the highest percentage of people identifying as “Pagan or Wiccan,” at 4%, per the Pew Research Center. Traditions vary, but these witches are more likely to celebrate the changing seasons than to cast hexes on you.

Witches were seen as devil worshippers

In the late 1400s, most Europeans believed witchcraft was pure evil—and that witches were in league with the devil himself. Their alleged activities included cursing those they didn’t like, turning people into animals and eating babies. These stories traveled to the New World along with the colonists who began to arrive there, sparking witch trials on both continents.

More women than men were accused of witchcraft

Historians say 100,000 people were prosecuted as witches in Europe and the Americas from the 1400s to the 1700s. Most were women, but in countries such as Iceland, Estonia and Russia, men made up the majority of those charged. There’s little evidence that any ofthe accused actually practiced witchcraft, though they were often pressured (or tortured) into false confessions.

You can visit Salem for witchy activities

America’s most notorious witch trial was in Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1690s. (Coincidentally, the final U.S. witchcraft trial was also in Salem, in 1878.) The town has embraced its history and is now a tourist destination that welcomed more than 1 million visitors last October alone. If you go, you can wander through the Salem Witch Museum, pop into countless magic stores or participate in a make-your-own-broomstick workshop.

The Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz was different in the book

In L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West carries an umbrella rather than a broomstick. There’s no mention of her skin being green in the book, but for the 1939 film adaptation, she was given her signature hue to showcase recent advances in Technicolor cinematography. Actor Margaret Hamilton was coated in toxic ­copper-based paint daily, and her skin was still tinted green for weeks after filming ended.

Not all witches are wicked

Take Glinda the Good Witch, who graces Oz looking more like a princess in her sparkly dress and crown. Or Hermione Granger, the main heroine of the Harry Potter series, who’s as smart as she is brave. And suburban housewife Samantha Stephens of the TV show Bewitched uses her powers for good—or, at least, to complete household chores. (Wouldn’t you?)

Halloween isn’t the only witchy holiday

Halloween is a witchy holiday, but in Sweden, so is … Easter? An old legend there tells of witches flying away to consort with the devil on the Thursday before Easter. Now Swedish children dress up as påskkärringar (“Easter witches”), wearing scarves on their heads and red paint on their cheeks, and visit neighbors’ houses with gifts in exchange for candy.

Hocus Pocus is a cult classic

The 1993 film Hocus Pocus, about a trio of 17th-century witches who run amok in modern-day Salem, bombed at the box office and was slammed by critics. But the flick found new life—and devoted fans—via video store rentals, as well as airing on the Disney Channel every fall.Today, it’s a Halloween must-watch, with a long-awaited sequel released in 2022 and another in the works.

Practical Magic has a big secret hiding behind its walls

The sequel to Practical Magic came out in September, almost 30 years after the 1998 original. Both Halloween movies feature Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as sisters with magical powers, though the film’s breakout star just might be their house. Moviegoers fell in love with the dreamy white Victorian mansion, with its iconic tower, huge kitchen and conservatory for growing potion ingredi … er … herbs. Barbra Streisand asked about buyingthe house after the film came out. Sadly, it was just movie magic—the exterior was a frame with nothing inside it.

Halloween wouldn’t be the same without these witchy tunes

A spell-casting soundtrack for your Halloween costume party might include the Halloween songs “Crystal” by Stevie Nicks, “Season of the Witch” by Lana Del Rey and “Seven Devils” by Florence + The Machine. Also add these witchy tracks to your playlist: “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra, “Black Magic Woman” by Santana and “Magic Man” by Heart.

Witchcraft has gone digital

You can hire a witch on Etsy to cast a love spell for you, or—if you’re already in love—to work magic to ensure blue skieson your wedding day. (Results may vary.)On TikTok, videos with the hashtag #WitchTok ­offer bite-sized potion tutorials, tarot readings or crystal healings and have billions of views.

A “coven of witches” set the Guinness World Record

In real life, a huge crowd of witches made history in northeastern Spain in 2013. Dressed in all black and hoisting brooms, 1,607 people set the Guinness World Record for “the largest gathering of people dressed as witches.” This colossal coven was inspired by thelottery outfit La Bruixa d’Or (which means “the golden witch”) to perform a good luck spell for the country’s upcoming lottery.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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While those adorable pictures of your kids in gingham and denim might make it all worth it, sometimes you just need a few pumpkins with no strings attached. We’ve got you covered. Coming up, we have the best place to buy affordable pumpkins this fall, including heirloom pumpkins and jumbo carving pumpkins, with no extra pressure to take a hay ride.

So where is this magical place? Hint: You’re probably already headed there this weekend. Read on for all the details.

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What’s the best place to buy pumpkins this fall?

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It’s Costco! Yep, pumpkins are back this fall, and compared to the pumpkin patch, they are dirt cheap (just like those Costco pumpkin pies). And we’re not just talking about little baby pumpkins, though they have those too. These are big ones, perfect for carving, as well as heirloom pumpkins, those gorgeous, old-fashioned-looking pumpkins that have been cultivated from the same seed line for decades.

Here’s how the pumpkin prices at Costco break down, though they may vary slightly by location. These are all priced per piece, not by weight, so feel free to grab the biggest one you want.

• Jumbo pumpkins: $7.99
• Heirloom pumpkins: $6.99
• 5-pack of mini pumpkins: $5.99

People are all over social media bragging about their great Costco pumpkins. Here are a few happy customers:

“Our pumpkin is perfect 🎃 I got it [at] Costco for 7 bucks 😝,” someone said on Instagram. “Now let’s see how long it takes for the squirrels to start carving it 🐿️”

“I’d love to support pumpkin patches, but last time we went out one pumpkin that felt like a decent size was $35!! And the smaller one $20,” according to a pumpkin buyer on Reddit.

“I bought a huge pumpkin 🎃 from Costco today … it was only $8,” said a Costco shopper on Facebook.

How do Costco’s pumpkin prices compare to pumpkin-patch prices?

They’re a lot less. Pumpkin patches generally price their pumpkins by the pound, and some charge an entry fee, which could be $20 or more per person just to get in the gates.

As for the pumpkins, I found one patch in upstate New York that charges 69 cents per pound. Another, in the New York City area, prices them at 79 cents per pound! Conversely, a pumpkin patch in Fort Worth, Texas, charges a $15 entry fee but offers flat pumpkin prices of $3 to $15. Buy two or three, and you’re already over $50.

Costco doesn’t advertise how much their pumpkins weigh, so we can’t make an exact pumpkin-to-pumpkin comparison, but for a fairly typical 25-pound pumpkin, at 79 cents a pound you’re looking at $19.75 for one jack-o’-lantern. Compare that to $7 or $8 bucks at Costco, depending on where you live, and the difference is considerable.

Are there any downsides to buying Costco pumpkins?

Not really, unless you have a bad back. These jumbo pumpkins are massive, and the heirlooms aren’t tiny either. If it’s pumpkin-buying time in your household, it’s probably a good idea to bring an extra set of muscles—your partner, a friend or your most strapping kid—instead of going it alone.

Other than that, it’s important to choose your pumpkins wisely. Make sure they don’t have any soft spots that might make them rot prematurely, and never pick up a pumpkin by the stem. If it rips off or weakens, you’ve now got an entry point for moisture and decay. Grab them underneath, and don’t forget to bend at the knees.

How long will they be available at Costco?

Costco’s pumpkins are a seasonal item, so they won’t be on sale forever. But you can expect to find them until Halloween or shortly after. Costco’s pumpkins are sourced from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and the pumpkin-growing season lasts deep into fall. But if you’ve ever made a desperate run to Costco for something only to find it was sold out (temporarily or permanently), your best bet is to stock up well before you buy your Halloween candy.

Sources:

• Dallas Morning News: “Pick your perfect pumpkin at one of these North Texas pumpkin patches”
• Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm: “Pricing and hours”
• Soon Orchards: “U-pick pumpkins”
• Reddit: “Cheapest place to get pumpkins? Everything is so expensive”
• @Costcowonders on Instagram
• @alexandriaduvall on Instagram
• Costco: “Pumpkins”

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The post Skip the Pumpkin Patch—This Is the Best Place to Buy Pumpkins This Fall appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Which brings me to one of my favorite employment stories: My boss needed help getting a bunch of shifts covered during a very busy season, and I volunteered. Because I’m a team player! Because I genuinely like helping people! And, if I’m being completely honest, because I thought if I was just nice enough, I could get on her good side and get promoted.

For months, I burned myself out, working early and late shifts on top of my own workload. Then one day, I finally got an email from my boss. I assumed it was going to be something like: “Thank you so much for all the extra work you’ve been putting in. I couldn’t do this without you!” Nope. Instead, she scolded me for not cleaning enough after one shift and ended with the line: “Don’t forget—working here is a privilege.” My brain exploded.

Y’all, it was a minimum-wage job. 

I was not working as a peacekeeper for the U.N. I was not curing childhood cancer. I was not following the president around with a briefcase of nuclear codes handcuffed to my wrist. And the truth was that I was doing her a favor for basically the price of a cup of coffee (and my dignity)!

Not only did being nice not get me a promotion—it didn’t even get me recognized as a good human being. But the part that stung the worst? The person who did get the promotion was the definition of Not Nice. It was one of the moments where you start to understand why people say nice guys finish last. (Or in my case, nice gals work 50 extra shifts, clean the bathroom, organize the equipment, get an ulcer and then apologize for leaving some boxes out … because that’s what I did.)

But still, being nice is a good thing, right? We see how awesome it can be time and again in Reader’s Digest‘s annual Nicest Places in America search. And let’s be honest: No one wants to hang out with (or date) a jerk. But do nice guys really finish last? It turns out that science does have an answer, but it’s complicated. And it starts with defining what “nice” really is.

Read on to find out what actually qualifies as being nice and what it can lead to—if you do it the right way.

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What does it mean to be “nice”?

For starters, “nice” doesn’t mean being a doormat, says Adam Mendler, PhD, who teaches graduate-level leadership courses at UCLA and hosts the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast, where he regularly advises people on how to be both nice and successful. “Kindness can signal to people that you’re soft or a pushover,” he says. “Some people will try to see how far they can push you or what they can get away with.”  

Eliska Kostelny, PsyD, a licensed clinical professional counselor and clinical supervisor at Pure Health Center, adds another concern to the mix: “Being nice” can be seen as not being proactive or passionate.

OK, so what does it really mean to be nice? The word is actually so nebulous and used in so many different contexts—good and bad—that researchers often avoid it, says Christian Bumpous, a licensed psychotherapist and the founder of Therapie in Nashville. 

So instead of researching niceness, scientists instead tend to look at “agreeableness,” a Big Five trait that includes trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty and tender-mindedness—or “kindness,” which the Kindlab defines as “an action intended to benefit someone else at some cost to yourself.”

What does the research show about being nice?

It depends entirely on the setting. When people talk about nice guys finishing last, it’s usually in the context of pay/promotions at work, love and overall happiness. And the answer changes depending on which one of those three things you’re measuring. For instance, the agreeable type of “nice” is sometimes linked with poorer work outcomes, while true kindness is linked to more successful relationships, better reputations and increased well-being. Here’s how it breaks down.

Work

In a classic study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that overall agreeable people do earn less over the course of their careers—and the effect was stronger for men. “The researchers assumed it was likely because they negotiate and advocate for themselves less than less-nice peers,” Bumpous says. “A person can end up avoiding conflict and saying yes too often. They tend to undernegotiate and get overlooked for raises and promotions at work. Over time, that can build resentment, which in turn leads to increased stress and feelings of burnout.” 

However, while the research focuses on agreeableness, Mendler says that kindness produces different results because people who are kind are likable. “People would rather work with, hire, promote and support someone they like and trust,” he says. “Over the years, I have been given opportunities I wasn’t the best candidate for because the decision-maker liked me, and a big part of being likable is being kind.”

Research backs that up: A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that strangers placed in random groups were most likely to choose the most altruistic group members to be both leaders and partners. So if your work involves leadership or working with others, being kind is a must. 

“Kindness leads to stronger trust in relationships, more loyalty, and increased social support,” Bumpous says. “All three things can be protective factors that ultimately buffer stress. It also leads to better teamwork and a better reputation at work over time.”

Love and friendship

Despite what the internet may tell you, kind men are not finishing last in love. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. A foundational study published in 2003 found that women prefer men who come across as kind and sensitive over those who are jerks—even when the jerk was rated as more attractive. A follow-up study of 191 male college students found that men who scored lower in agreeableness were more likely to have casual, less-committed sexual relationships. So if you’re looking for real romance, being nice is the way to go.

Bumpous references the decades of research on relationships done by the Gottman Institute: “They found kindness is one of the strongest predictors when it comes to stable partnerships. In the long run, being nice works out.”

Of course, romance is only one type of relationship, and a fulfilling life has many types of close connections. “We also often see the ‘nice guy’ archetype as the unrequited, friend-zoned person who is overlooked by their romantic interest, who instead pursues the ‘bad boy,’” Kostelny says. “In reality, truly nice people rarely finish last, because they are more likely to create community and friendships that result in life satisfaction.”

Happiness and well-being

Nice people are happier. Why? The primary driver of happiness is meaningful relationships, according to the Harvard Longevity Study, the longest-running study on happiness in the world. “Typically, kind people tend to be happier and can form more durable friendships, and they also have stronger romantic relationships,” Bumpous says. “Overall, kindness is linked to higher well-being for the person who’s being kind.”

It is also true that being kind—as in selflessly helping someone else—has been linked over and over in the research to more feelings of happiness. In a 2018 meta-analysis that reviewed 27 experiments involving more than 4,000 people, researchers found that people who performed acts of kindness reported significantly higher well-being than those who didn’t.

So do nice guys actually finish last?

Usually not, but the ones who do tend to be either pushovers or are being performatively nice. The latter is when people are being kind … but also looking to get something out of it vs. doing it selflessly. Looking back at my experience, I can see now that I was being both a pushover and performatively nice. So perhaps it’s not surprising that I didn’t get the result I was looking for. But when you’re looking at success, it’s important to play the long game. 

“In the short term, aggressive or selfish behavior can pay off, making it look like the nice guy finished last, but in the long run, your reputation catches up with you,” Mendler says. “People remember who treated them well, who treated them poorly and who was only nice when they wanted something.”

Is there a difference between nice guys and nice girls?

Yes, but it’s mostly in how they’re judged by other people, not in how nice they actually are. “There is a definite difference in expectations,” Mendler says. “Aggressive and assertive behavior is often rewarded in men and penalized in women.” He explains that a man who pushes hard may be viewed as strong, while a woman who behaves the same way may be viewed as difficult.

Women are also generally expected to be more accommodating and conflict-averse. As a result, women in the workplace can be looked down on both for being too soft and for not being soft enough. “It is a double standard that many well-meaning people are not aware of,” he says. 

But men can be negatively affected by these stereotypes as well. “On the flip side, nice men can be seen as less dominant or soft,’ so both genders can get punished,” Bumpous says. “It just shows up in different ways.”

How can you be nice without being a pushover?

It’s about being kind while also having boundaries—and those boundaries need to be nonnegotiable. Now, it’s important to say that setting limits does not mean you’re being mean. “A kind person helps because they want to,” Mendler explains. “A pushover helps because they don’t feel comfortable saying no.”

Bumpous adds that kindness paired with self-respect, self-awareness of your boundaries and honesty about what you can and cannot do—and being assertive about it—is the magic formula. Kostelny adds: “Contrary to popular belief, a person can be both nice and ambitious. The important thing is to lift yourself up at the same time you are lifting others.”

Here’s how to make it work.

• Run the “Did I truly choose this?” test. Bumpous explains that “a ‘yes’ from a pushover comes from fear and not necessarily choice. It’s helpful to ask yourself, ‘Did I truly choose this? Or was I afraid of the reaction if I said no?’ Feeling resentment after saying yes is a big clue.”
• Ask yourself what your motive is. Mendler says that “if someone asks too much of you and you still agree because you’re afraid of upsetting them, you’re being a pushover. If someone treats you poorly and you allow it to continue because you want to avoid conflict, you’re being a pushover. You can be generous and magnanimous without giving other people control over you.”
• Learn to say no (without a five-paragraph apology). “No” is a complete sentence, and it can also be a kind one. “The idea is you can say no without overexplaining, give without keeping score and check in with yourself: What do you have capacity for?” Bumpous says.
• Be honest about what you need. You can be nice and still be more assertive, confidently expressing your needs while being open to listen to, understand and compromise with others. “The important thing is to practice both kindness and self-advocacy in these roles when working toward specific goals,” Kostelny says.
• Set boundaries. A boundary is simply stating you will do X if Y happens. It’s not about changing the other person’s behavior; it’s about your reaction to it. “If you don’t set boundaries, favors can quickly become expectations, and some people will keep taking until you stop giving,” Mendel says. Which, by the way, is exactly what happened in my job.

So what should you really take away from all of this?

Looking back, I can now see that what I thought of as “being nice” was actually an early-ingrained trauma response that turned me into a nuclear-level people pleaser. I didn’t just want people to like me. I wanted to be so useful that nobody would ever have a reason to be mad at me. Essentially, I had confused being useful with being worthy. 

At the time, it felt devastating. I had followed all the rules I thought I was supposed to follow. I worked hard. I helped. I stayed late. I said yes. I made myself indispensable. And I thought if I gave enough of myself away, eventually somebody would look at me and say, “You’ve done enough. You deserve something too.” 

Instead, I got a cleaning complaint. 

Being nice doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. Being kind doesn’t mean abandoning yourself. And making yourself indispensable is an awful way to find out whether someone actually values you.

These days, I’m still nice. But it’s because I want to be, not because I need to prove it to someone else.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on whether nice guys finish last, Charlotte Hilton Andersen tapped her experience as a longtime journalist who frequently writes about psychology, communication, etiquette and common curiosities for Reader’s Digest. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Christian Bumpous, LMFT, LPC, licensed psychotherapist and founder of Therapie; personal interview, Sept. 18, 2026
• Adam Mendler, MBA, creator and host of Thirty Minute Mentors; personal interview, Sept. 17, 2026
• Eliska Kostelny, licensed clinical professional counselor and clinical supervisor at Pure Health Center; personal interview, Sept. 17, 2026
• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: “Do nice guys—and gals—really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income”
• Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin: “Nice guys finish first: The competitive altruism hypothesis” 
• Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: “Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor.”
• PsyPost: “For Majority of Women, Nice Guys Finish First”
• Sex Roles: “Physical attractiveness and the ‘nice guy paradox’: Do nice guys really finish last?” 
• Sex Roles: “Niceness and dating success: A further test of the nice guy stereotype”

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The post Do Nice Guys (and Gals) Really Finish Last? Here’s What the Science Actually Says appeared first on Reader's Digest.

And plenty of people do. Pyrex, the Corning brand best known for its heat-resistant glass bakeware and kitchenware, became a staple in American kitchens in the 20th century. Today, vintage Pyrex has gone from kitchen cupboard staple to collector’s item, with certain patterns and pieces selling for hundreds—or, in some cases, thousands—of dollars. Suddenly, that old casserole dish isn’t just holding dinner; it might be holding a little nest egg.

The catch? That old dish isn’t valuable simply because it’s old. You need to look for the pieces collectors covet, which means you have to know which Pyrex items in your grandparents’ kitchen or in that thrift store are the ones to get excited about.

To find out how to spot a hidden gem—and estimate just how much it might sell for—I consulted three Pyrex experts: Kayleigh Davies, an antiques and collectibles specialist at Auctionet UK; Jolene Forrester, owner of vintage shop JoRetro; and Anna Pan, owner of the Etsy shop VCPvintagekitchen. Let’s dig in.

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Why are Pyrex items so valuable?

The biggest factor is simple: There aren’t many of them. According to Davies, the rarest pieces tend to be patterns that weren’t mass-produced, including prototypes and limited-production promotional pieces. Many were made for a short period or never made it into regular production.

And there’s a reason so few survived. Pyrex wasn’t sold as a collectible; it was sold to be used. Over the decades, pieces were broken, scratched, faded and separated from their lids and accessories.

But “rarity matters much less if nobody likes the pattern,” Davies adds. The most valuable pieces, she explains, are the ones that “still look great in modern homes and are worth showing off.” That combination—scarcity and desirability—creates the real collector’s market.

The appeal has broadened too. TV shows like Mad Men and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel have helped renew enthusiasm for vintage Pyrex and the colorful mid-century aesthetic that surrounds it, perhaps contributing to more competition for pieces at thrift stores and garage sales.

Which pattern is worth the most?

If there’s one pattern that has achieved mythical status among Pyrex collectors, it’s Lucky in Love. “It’s the undisputed holy grail of Pyrex,” says Pan. The 1959 promotional casserole features green grass, four-leaf clovers and pink hearts.

In 2017, a Lucky in Love 1-quart round casserole dish donated to Goodwill of Western New York sold on the organization’s online auction site for $5,994, after 60 bidders competed for it.

According to Pan and Davies, an authenticated example can fetch from $4,000 to more than $5,000 at auction, depending on condition and the intensity of its coloration. Forrester’s estimate is considerably higher: $10,000-plus in the collector’s market. She also notes that prices for extremely rare Pyrex aren’t always publicly available.

What other patterns and pieces could be worth a bundle?

Lucky in Love gets the headlines, but it isn’t the only Pyrex that collectors are hunting. Here are 10 other patterns and pieces worth knowing if you’re rifling through the attic, a thrift store or an estate sale—and what experts think they’re worth. Keep in mind that a pattern doesn’t have one fixed price. The exact piece, colorway, condition, completeness and place of sale can all affect the final price.

Turquoise Golden Birds Space Saver

This 1960s turquoise rectangular casserole, decorated with metallic gold birds, is one of the rarest pieces on the collector’s market. Davies says it was likely made for Corning employees, with very few examples known.

How much it could be worth: $5,000 to more than $7,500, with the original decorated lid potentially adding significant value

Clover Berry

Don’t let the delicate name fool you: Clover Berry is a serious collector’s item. Forrester specifically flags the rare 1960s pattern, distinguished by its clover-and-berry motif found only on the 2.5-quart Cinderella casserole. (By the way, the shape gets its name from the flared ends, which resemble Cinderella’s glass slipper; one serves as a handle, and the other as a pour spout.)

How much it could be worth: $6,000 for rare examples

New Mexico

Sometimes the biggest Pyrex find is the one that doesn’t say Pyrex. “New Mexico” is a collector name for an unusual, unmarked 1.5-quart oval casserole thought to be a test piece in the 1950s and 1960s that never went into regular production. It comes in several unusual colorways and features a geometric, starburst-like design. Because it lacks a Pyrex backstamp, it’s easy to overlook.

How much it could be worth: $6,000-plus for rare examples

Atomic Starburst

Atomic Starburst has the bold, geometric look of mid-century design. But in this 1960 pattern, color is key. Davies says the turquoise version went into production, while black and peach pieces likely weren’t regularly sold to the public—making those unusual colors particularly interesting to collectors.

How much it could be worth: Up to about $1,500 for a turquoise casserole; $4,000-plus for rare black or peach designs

Atomic Eyes Chip-and-Dip Set

The Atomic Eyes chip-and-dip set is one of Pyrex’s more unusual designs, featuring an atomic-inspired eye motif. (And yes, those are apparently eyes!)

How much it could be worth: $700 to $1,000 for a complete set, which includes the metal bracket that holds the smaller bowl above the larger one

Golden Sunflower Daisy

This 1968 promotional pattern features large orange-and-yellow daisy graphics—a much bolder look than many of the more familiar Pyrex patterns.

How much it could be worth: $2,000 to more than $5,000 for a pristine casserole dish with a lid

Pumpkin Butterprint

Butterprint is one of Pyrex’s most recognizable patterns, featuring Amish-inspired roosters, wheat and farm tools. The rarer Pumpkin Butterprint version, released in 1965, swaps the familiar turquoise-and-white color scheme for pumpkin orange and was offered as a Cinderella bowl set through the S&H Green Stamps program rather than sold at regular retail. Davies recently saw a four-piece set, including one chipped bowl, sell for $1,400.

How much it could be worth: $200 to $300 for an individual bowl; $1,300 to $1,750-plus for a complete set

Pink Gooseberry

Pink Gooseberry, introduced in 1957, features a delicate berry-and-floral pattern in pink and white. It had a full production run, so it doesn’t command the same prices as the rarest test and promotional pieces, but pristine sets can still be valuable.

How much it could be worth: Roughly $200 to $1,000-plus

Super DeLuxe “UFO” Casserole

This promotional piece, released in 1956, looks like it could have landed straight out of a sci-fi movie. Officially called the Super Deluxe Casserole, the turquoise round baking dish came with a brass-tone metal lid and was produced for a short time. Finding a complete set—with its original lid and elaborate three-legged candle warmer—is especially appealing to collectors.

How much it could be worth: $800 to $1,500 for a complete set

Snowflake Blue

If the pieces above have you thinking vintage Pyrex collecting requires a five-figure budget, Snowflake Blue offers a more accessible entry point. It’s an early 1970s pattern with a snowflake motif, sometimes nicknamed Garland by collectors. Davies recommends it for someone who wants to collect vintage Pyrex without immediately chasing the rarest, priciest pieces.

How much it could be worth: Around $300 for a set of mixing bowls or a casserole dish

What should you look for on a Pyrex piece to see if it’s worth something?

You don’t need to memorize every Pyrex pattern ever made. Start with the basics. Forrester says to watch for unusual turquoise, pink or gold-decorated pieces, atomic designs, Space Savers, chip-and-dip bowls and unfamiliar color combinations. Then turn the piece over and look for the PYREX backstamp, model number and capacity. Lucky in Love, for example, is a #473 casserole. But don’t automatically dismiss something because you can’t find the expected marking. “Some experimental Pyrex wasn’t marked normally,” she says.

The Corning Museum of Glass’s Pattern Library can help with identification, while its research library offers books, trade catalogs and advertisements that can provide additional context. The museum itself does not provide appraisals.

Davies’s advice is even simpler: “If I like it and I think it looks fashionable, chances are other people do too.” If a piece catches your eye at a thrift store or estate sale, she says, stop and investigate.

And don’t overlook something just because it’s incomplete. An odd metal bracket, warming cradle or glass lid could be exactly what a collector needs to complete a set. Forrester says original accessories can be among the hardest pieces to find.

If you have one of these items, should you sell it?

Maybe … but don’t rush to sell it. Before putting a potentially valuable piece on the market, document and examine it carefully. Photograph the front, back, underside, backstamp, model number, lid and any accessories, and note where you found it and anything you know about its history. Clear photos and provenance can help establish exactly what you have. 

Condition matters too. Glossy color and crisp graphics are desirable to collectors, while chips, cracks, fading, scratches, paint loss and utensil marks can significantly reduce value. Pan estimates that poor condition can cut the value of a rare pattern by 80% to 90%; Davies puts the potential reduction from damage at up to 75%, depending on how much it affects the piece’s appearance.

Forrester notes that with extremely rare pieces, however, “rarity can trump condition.” So don’t assume an imperfect piece is worthless.

Completeness can matter just as much. “Collectors are looking for complete items when it comes to things like a set of four nesting mixing bowls or a casserole dish with a lid,” says Davies. “If you only have three of the mixing bowls, I’d recommend selling them separately for people who are looking for replacements for single pieces in their own set.” She recently saw a three-piece Pink Gooseberry mixing-bowl set sell for $360, compared with up to $1,000 for a complete set of four.

And don’t restore it first. Scrubbing off decoration, repainting worn areas or attempting repairs can alter the original finish and potentially diminish its value. Establish what you have before you try to improve it.

If you decide to sell, where can you get big bucks?

For common and moderately collectible pieces, online marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace can connect you directly with buyers. Each platform has its own fees, audience and selling process, so compare recent sold listings and the costs involved before choosing where to list. Also, research completed sales—not just asking prices. What sellers hope to get isn’t necessarily what buyers have actually paid.

If you think you’ve found something particularly rare or valuable, consider getting an opinion from a specialist antique dealer or reputable auction house. For a truly rare piece, an auction may be worth considering, since it can put the item in front of multiple collectors rather than relying on a single buyer. Getting more than one opinion can also give you a better sense of the market before you accept an offer.

If you just want to enjoy that vintage Pyrex yourself, what do you need to know?

Before you put vintage Pyrex to work in your kitchen, take a close look at the piece itself. Check for chips, cracks, scratches or other damage, and avoid pieces with significant damage.

Lead is another concern when discussing vintage Pyrex. The Corning Museum of Glass identifies individual vintage Pyrex pieces in its collection as non-lead glass or non-lead opalware glass, but that doesn’t establish the composition of every piece. Vintage colored and patterned Pyrex, like vintage Corelle dinnerware, can contain lead in its exterior decorative paint or enamel, while the food-contact surface is generally undecorated glass. If you’re concerned about lead exposure, research the specific piece and its decoration.

Once you’ve determined a piece is suitable for use, follow a few simple rules:

• Hand-wash it. Skip the dishwasher. Harsh detergents can damage the exterior finish on vintage decorated Pyrex, leaving those once-shiny patterns dull or faded.
• Keep it out of the microwave. This is especially important for pieces with decorative coatings or parts that aren’t made of glass.
• Avoid sudden temperature changes. Treat vintage Pyrex gently when moving it between hot and cold environments. Sudden temperature changes can put stress on the glass.
• Consider not using it. If you’ve found an exceptionally rare piece, you may want to display it rather than make it your everyday casserole dish.

I mean, how beautiful would that Golden Sunflower Daisy casserole look on my countertop? Guess I need to go hit up a flea market.

Sources:

• Kayleigh Davies, antiques and collectibles specialist at Auctionet; email interview, Sept. 18, 2026
• Jolene Forrester, owner of JoRetro, a vintage and retro lifestyle shop in Havre de Grace, Maryland; email interview, Sept. 18, 2026
• Anna Pan, owner of the Etsy shop VCP Vintage Kitchen; email interview, Sept. 18, 2026
• Corning Museum of Glass: “Pattern Library”
• eBay
• Etsy
• Goodwill of Western New York: “Rare Pyrex Sells for Record Price!”
• Pyrex Passion: “Bakeware Patterns”

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In an exclusive interview with Reader’s Digest, Tisdale let us in on this very different—and decidedly cozier—chapter of her life. She shared her thoughts on motherhood, her beloved pets Sushi and Ziggy, and the fall traditions she looks forward to every year (pumpkin fans, you’re in good company). And because we couldn’t have Tisdale with us without channeling our inner Disney kid, we asked the questions longtime fans are probably wondering too: Does she ever rewatch High School Musical? And have her daughters seen their mom as Sharpay or discovered any of her other Disney alter egos?

Read on for our candid conversation with Ashley Tisdale, including details on her latest collaboration and a sneak peek at what’s next for her.

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This interview took place on Sept. 22, 2026, and has been edited for length and clarity.

Reader’s Digest: It’s cozy season! Fall has that back-to-school feel, not only for kids but also for adults. Is there anything about this time of year that makes you feel particularly nostalgic? 

Ashley Tisdale: Fall is so special to me because my husband and I got engaged in August, like 14 years ago, and then we got married 12 years ago in September. Whenever this time comes around, it makes me so happy. I love a chai latte around this time. It’s so yummy. We love to make the kids pumpkin pancakes. Fall takes me back to really special moments.

Reader’s Digest: Speaking of special moments, is there something from the early 2000s that you would love to bring back—and something that you’re happy we left in the past? Personally, I’m loving the skirts-over-jeans combo. 

Ashley Tisdale: It’s crazy you brought that up! [Someone I follow] was wearing a skirt over jeans in one of her social posts. I’m like, She’s bringing it back. I loved it too. Something I would not bring back is leg warmers—you know, the Abercrombie & Fitch leg warmers. That was a moment in time that should just stay there and never see the light of day again.

Reader’s Digest: What’s your ultimate fall-comfort lineup? 

Ashley Tisdale: I love the movie The Holiday. Any Nancy Meyers movie is my favorite. I’ve always been a humongous fan of hers, so even my 5-year-old loves Father of the Bride.

Reader’s Digest: High School Musical is such a comfort watch too. Do you ever rewatch the films? And have your children seen them?

Ashley Tisdale: My 5-year-old has definitely watched it and loves it. I don’t watch myself very often. It’s so funny because I definitely watched Disney growing up. I like movies like Hocus Pocus. But I don’t really watch the Disney movies as much now, and we keep it to a minimum. She’s a huge fan of the movie, but there’s only so many times I can listen to the songs and watch the movies.

Reader’s Digest: How has being a mom changed the way you look back at the younger version of yourself? 

Ashley Tisdale: Being a mom kind of connects me to my mom. I feel like it’s the best thing in the entire world. I love being a mom. I wasn’t someone who, when young, was like, Oh, one day I’m gonna get married and have kids. I was so focused on my work and career, and so I didn’t really think like that. I didn’t even expect it, and then obviously I got married and ended up having kids, so it’s kind of a surprise.

Mom and Dad say it all the time. They’re like, “Oh, my gosh, Jupiter is so you.” She’s definitely entertaining. It’s in her blood, and she loves musical theater and music. My husband is a composer, so she really does love music, and she’s really good at singing. I don’t want her in the business. I want her to choose it for herself if she wants to. But there is this thing in her that I see that I’m like, Wow, that’s what I probably was like.

Reader’s Digest: Fall tends to be when everyone gets back into routines after summer. What does getting your household back into a rhythm look like for you? 

Ashley Tisdale: We always try to stay in a rhythm. A routine is something that I think kids thrive with, so they do have a certain bedtime. We love to vacation in the summer, but we really try to always keep them on track. 

Reader’s Digest: Is there anything you always do to reset yourself at this time of year? 

Ashley Tisdale: I love meditations. Sometimes in the summer, I tend to fall off. I do it every single afternoon. I try to check in and do a little five-minute meditation. It’s just so good for our nervous systems. Having kids is always crazy and chaotic. [There’s] screaming, running around and then crying. It’s a lot, so I do try to take care of myself in that way.

Reader’s Digest: During this interview, you’ve been holding one of your adorable pets, Sushi. Where did her name come from? 

Ashley Tisdale: Sushi is just my love for sushi. At one point in my life, like right when I got her, I had take-out sushi. I had too many tuna rolls, so they were like, “You cannot have sushi for a minute. It was too much mercury.” So I was like, “What am I going to name her?” I’m like, “Oh, Sushi, because I can’t have it, but I love it!”

Reader’s Digest: Ziggy and Sushi are both part of the family. How would you describe their personalities, and who would you say causes the most mess at home? 

Ashley Tisdale: Ziggy definitely causes the most mess. She’s a very little, anxious dog. Their personalities are really cute. Sushi is just like a stuffed animal. I swear, she just sleeps with me. She’s just cuddled up right next to me.

Ziggy sleeps with us too, but she’s at the end of the bed. She does not want to be touching you, but Sushi’s just a little lover. She’s so sweet. She’ll let the kids pick her up and everything. Ziggy’s a little bit more all over the place. 

Reader’s Digest: How does enrichment fit into Ziggy and Sushi’s routine, especially when it comes to your partnership with Nylabone’s new chew toys with real meats?

Ashley Tisdale: I’m someone who cares what’s in my kids’ food and my food. So, of course, I’m going to care about what my dogs are chewing on and eating as well.  Ziggy does have anxiety, and so one of the tools that trainers have told us in the past was to distract her, and that’s usually with treats and chew toys. This is just something that keeps her entertained for hours. She loves it. Chewing also helps them be calmer.

I have so much going on during the day. I have two kids. It’s crazy in the morning. It’s chaotic, and so to have just a product that you can trust to give to your dogs, keeps them happy and is also really healthy for their gums, Nylabone was a no-brainer.

Reader’s Digest: What’s next for Ashley Tisdale?

Ashley Tisdale: There are so many exciting things coming up, but I can’t share too much. My product line, Being Frenshe, just launched at Ulta, which has been such a huge goal of mine. It’s really cool to see something that I created there.

Reader’s Digest: Dogs or cats?

Ashley Tisdale: Definitely dogs.

Reader’s Digest: Mornings or nights?

Ashley Tisdale: Mornings.

Reader’s Digest: Aisle seat or window?

Ashley Tisdale: Window.

Reader’s Digest: Would you rather travel to the past or the future?

Ashley Tisdale: I was thinking about this the other day. Probably the past. I think the future would leave me with too many questions. I’ll get anxious.

Reader’s Digest: What is your favorite book?

Ashley Tisdale: The Power to Heal.

Reader’s Digest: If you weren’t an actress or singer, what would you be doing?

Ashley Tisdale: I run a company, so I definitely think I have a thing for branding. I’d probably do brand marketing. 

Reader’s Digest: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Ashley Tisdale: Keep going. You’ll get there.

*Editor’s note: Reader’s Digest does not endorse any specific products or services. 

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this interview with Ashley Tisdale, Reader’s Digest Associate Editor Mariah Thomas tapped her experiences as a celebrity interviewer, writer and editor. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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But should I be putting a stop to this mid-picking fruit gorging? Yes, everyone does it, but as with so many things, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea! I don’t want to be a party pooper here, but I have to wonder if it’s actually safe or healthy to eat an apple straight off the tree. After all, I always wash my apples when I bring them home from the supermarket. Is washing equally important when you’re getting your fruit straight from the source?

To find out, I spoke with Jessica Brantley-Lopez, a registered dietitian nutritionist who also coaches organizations on food safety and sanitation. Read on to find out the answer to this fall debate—and decide if you’re willing to take the risk.

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Is it OK to eat an apple right off the tree when apple picking?

Technically, no, it’s not ideal. “Even though [that apple] may look clean, it has been growing outdoors and can be exposed to bacteria from animals, soil, water or even people handling the fruit,” Brantley-Lopez says. “If you’re at an orchard, there may also have been agricultural sprays used on the trees.” Yep, she’s talking about pesticides. (More on that below.)

The best-case scenario? You consume something yucky. The worst case, of course, is that you get sick. “You just don’t know what that apple may have been exposed to,” she explains. “That’s why rinsing it first is such an easy step to reduce your risk.”

What icky things might you find on an apple?

Since apples are growing outdoors, there are quite a few things that can make their way onto the surface of the fruit. Here are the most likely culprits.

Dirt

Sure, kids may eat dirt from time to time. But do we really want them to eat it if we can prevent it? And do we want to eat it ourselves? I’d guess that the answer to both those questions is no. According to the National Library of Medicine, there’s nothing inherently poisonous or dangerous about dirt itself, but it can contain chemicals, fertilizers, parasites, fungus or toxins that could make you ill, and you might not be able to see those things on the surface of the apple.

Animal contamination

There could be bird poop or schmutz from other animals on the apples, says Brantley-Lopez. And any contamination that comes from animals, even if it’s only a little bit, could expose you to illness-causing bacteria. When it comes to bird poop, in particular, there’s a risk of contracting psittacosis, a respiratory infection. You don’t actually need to consume the bird poop to catch this bug; it’s most commonly spread by inhaling dust that contains dried bird droppings. People who have a lot of contact with birds, like poultry workers, bird owners or pet-shop employees, are at a greater risk, but you could still get it if you pick and bite into an apple that has some of this dust on it.

Other bacteria

Bacteria from animal contamination isn’t the only thing you need to worry about. There could be other bacteria growing on the apple, transferred from the soil or water while the apple was growing. The most harmful one is listeria, which is generally found near the stem or on the bottom of the apple, per Washington State University. Listeria can cause unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic, but it can be much more serious for pregnant people and folks with weakened immune systems.

There was a listeria outbreak in 2014 linked to commercially produced caramel apples; the caramel coating created an ideal environment for the bacteria to grow. And while there haven’t been any outbreaks tied to fresh apples recently, it’s still something you should be aware of.

Germs from other people’s hands

“At a busy apple orchard, you don’t know how many people may have touched that apple before you picked it,” says Brantley-Lopez. You also don’t know how recently they washed their hands. Apples are not the same as countertops or doorknobs—after all, they have a waxy surface and a certain level of moisture—but the germs that cause respiratory infections, the flu and norovirus, for instance, may survive for a few hours on the fruit’s surface if someone with one of these illnesses touched it but decided not to pick it. Then, if you ate it before washing it … well, you know how that story ends. 

Pesticide residue

“Depending on the orchard, there could also be pesticide residue or other agricultural sprays on the surface of the apple,” Brantley-Lopez says. According to a 2025 report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, 77% of apple growers use insecticides and 75% use fungicides, so there’s a very high chance that your local orchard is using some sort of spray to protect its apples from bugs and diseases.

Eating one apple with some pesticides on it likely won’t cause any immediate harm, but long-term exposure has been associated with diseases like cancer and neurological disorders.

Bugs

There could be an ant or another small bug crawling across the surface of the apple. Chances are, you’ll notice this and flick it off, but what happens if you’re distracted by your kids and you forget to look before you take a bite? Just … yuck.

Is it safe to eat apples straight off the tree at some orchards?

Perhaps if the orchard only uses organic farming practices or doesn’t use pesticides? Unfortunately, that’s also a no. “Organic versus non-organic doesn’t really change the risk of bacterial contamination,” says Brantley-Lopez. “An organic apple can still be exposed to animals, soil, water and people handling it. And organic doesn’t always mean pesticide-free. Some approved sprays can still be used.”

Can you actually get sick from eating an apple off a tree?

Yes. “Depending on what may be on the apple, you could experience anything from mild stomach upset, nausea or diarrhea to a more serious foodborne illness,” Brantley-Lopez says. “Some bacterial infections can become severe enough to require a hospital visit.”

I mentioned some of the possible infections you could catch earlier, but what it boils down to is that you just don’t know what chemicals or contamination the apple has been exposed to when you pick it. As a result, it’s hard to say how large of a risk you’re taking by munching on it without washing it.

Is there a proper way to clean it off in the orchard so it’s safe?

Yep—the old rinse ‘n’ rub is enough to reduce dirt and bacteria on the surface of the apple, says Brantley-Lopez. “Many orchards have washing stations available, sometimes right in the picking area,” she adds. “And you don’t need soap or a special produce wash. Plain running water is best.” If you’re apple picking with kids and already toting a bag with you, consider bringing a bottle of water or a small spray bottle so you can rinse off the apples before eating them.

That said, this advice applies to unbroken, unbruised apples that are still hanging from the tree. “If an apple has fallen on the ground, check it carefully for bruising, cracks or other damage,” Brantley-Lopez says. “A fallen apple isn’t automatically bad, but once the skin is damaged, there is more opportunity for contamination.” And if the apple actually looks bad, even a little, it’s best to just leave it there.

Do you also need to clean apples from the supermarket?

Yes, the same rules apply to apples from the grocery store. “Even if apples were rinsed during packing, they can still pick up dirt or bacteria during transportation, handling or at the grocery store,” says Brantley-Lopez.

That goes for apples you plan to peel or cook with too. “Cutting or peeling can transfer bacteria from the outside of the apple to the inside,” she explains, so it’s still important to wash it.

The bottom line: At the very least, splash some water on your apples before they make it to your mouth or your kids’ mouths.

Sources:

• Jessica Brantley-Lopez, RDN, registered dietitian nutritionist and food safety instructor; email interview, Sept. 16, 2026
• National Library of Medicine: “Dirt – swallowing”
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “About Psittacosis”
• Washington State University Extension Consumer Food Safety: “Got Apples?”
• Mayo Clinic: “Listeria infection”
• Epidemiology & Infection: “Multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to whole apples used in commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples: United States, 2014–2015”
• USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service: “2025 Agricultural Chemical Use Fruit Crops”
• Toxicology Reports: “A systematic review of pesticide exposure, associated risks, and long-term human health impacts”

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The post Fall’s Big Debate Settled! Is It OK to Eat an Apple Right Off the Tree, or Do You Need to Wash It First? appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Sheesh, I thought, ready to cocoon myself in bubble wrap. Can things get worse?

I envisioned choking to death on my dinner, ingesting some other shard of ceramic or maybe slipping in the shower later that night and hitting my head. I wasn’t sure my evening could recover.

It’s a thing, this downward spiral of doom. We all do it. But do we make it worse for ourselves? And do we have the power to turn our days around, or are we cursed once the spiral begins? To find out, I spoke with experts in psychology and neurology: Patrice Le Goy, PhD, a psychologist, therapist and adjunct professor; Matthew Leahy, PhD, a licensed psychologist in private practice; and Sanam Hafeez, PsyD, a New York City–based neuropsychologist.

It turns out that the spiral is real—though also semi-self-created. “The first bad thing may happen to us,” says Leahy. “But then our brain starts helping build the case that the whole day is ruined.” It doesn’t have to be, though.

Read on to learn some surprisingly easy ways to boost your mood and make things a whole lot better—and also recognize when it’s time to call it a day.  

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Is there a scientific reason that some days are particularly awful?

Believe it or not, yes. A day that seems to be spiraling out of control comes down to both how your brain is wired to notice threats and what’s happening chemically once it decides something qualifies as one.

Le Goy points to negativity bias. “Bad days can spiral because we often give more attention to negative things than we do to positive ones,” she says. We’ve evolved this way to protect ourselves. “Negative experiences are more likely to feel threatening, and so to stay ‘safe,’ we have to be vigilant in recognizing these threats.” Plus, we tend to focus on the facts that support our new theory that everything is a disaster, and this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That mindset can shift our mood and our actions, inadvertently setting us up for more negative interactions.

But there’s more to it than simply perspective. “The amygdala is heavily involved in sounding the alarm,” Hafeez says. “If your brain decides there is a threat, it signals areas such as the hypothalamus to get the body ready to respond. Your heart may beat faster, your muscles tense and your attention can narrow toward whatever seems wrong.” Once that response is underway, she explains, “it can become harder for the prefrontal cortex—the part that helps with reasoning, perspective and self-control—to have as much influence over your reaction.”

That alarm also triggers a cortisol spike, which sets off a cascade of chemicals that send inflammatory signals through the brain. At the same time, that cortisol suppresses GABA, the neurotransmitter responsible for keeping you calm. With your calming chemical suppressed and your inflammatory signals firing, your brain gets stuck in a heightened, reactive state. That feedback loop is why a single bad moment rarely stays contained to just that moment: It keeps feeding itself. It’s also why, as Hafeez puts it, “the third annoying thing that happens at 4 p.m. can feel much worse than it would have if it happened first thing in the morning,” and why something you’d normally brush off can suddenly feel like the final straw.

What are the scientifically proven ways to recover from a bad day?

Sleep is certainly one of our strongest resets, but you don’t have to wait until the next morning to feel different. “A bad morning can still become a decent afternoon because the brain and body are constantly responding to what is happening in the present,” says Hafeez. “There isn’t a specific neurological point where the brain decides the entire day is ruined. Even after hours of stress, the nervous system can begin calming down when it gets signals that the immediate threat or problem has passed.”

When my own recent bad day went down, in addition to mentally listing all the other things that could go wrong, I chuckled as I envisioned myself as a slapstick comedian a la the Three Stooges or Kramer from Seinfeld, with my mishaps recast as a well-orchestrated, graceful (if goofy!) dance. Turns out, I was using a proven method for pulling myself out of the spiral. And that’s just one of the things you can do to take a beat and stop the inflammation loop when you notice your day going downhill.

Build self-awareness and reflection

“When we are able to pause and stay present, we can stop a bad moment from becoming a bad day,” says Le Goy. She calls this halt the single most important move available to you in the moment. “When we find ourselves spiraling, it is often because we are jumping ahead and making assumptions that the rest of the day will be as bad as this particular moment. When we take a beat, we can decide how we want to move forward, rather than being swept away on the negative emotion wave.”

A 2021 review in the journal Translational Psychiatry found a strong link between anxiety and depression and those who lacked the ability to notice their thoughts and feelings as passing mental events rather than absolute truths. Turning my calamity into a comedy short in my mind’s eye helped interrupt my own spiral.

Being realistic can help as well. Don’t expect you’ll do a full 180 and suddenly have a fantastic day; your mind won’t accept what it doesn’t already believe. Aim for a neutral day, one where you’re back in control of what happens. Part of that is not compounding the problem: Naming what’s actually going on (“I’m keyed up right now”) instead of escalating it into a verdict (“Everything is going wrong”) keeps one rough moment from snowballing into a ruined day.

Try mindfulness practices like journaling or meditation

Identifying what’s going on and calling it out can help break the spiral. Saying or writing out loud “I’m having a bad day” can be the beat you need to separate yourself from the negativity. “I feel like I’m a mess today” hits differently than “I’m a mess.”

The science backs this up. A 2022 study found that five 30-minute weekly mindfulness sessions significantly dropped serum cortisol and perceived stress levels in nursing students. Another showed that a mindfulness retreat produced bigger drops in cortisol and inflammatory markers than a comparison group who simply took a vacation with no structured practice. Rest alone didn’t move the needle; structured mindfulness did.

Change your physical environment

“If everything is irritating you, leave the room and do something random, even if it’s just walking around Target or taking a drive while blasting music,” says Hafeez. “A change of scenery can make the bad part of the day feel like it belongs to an earlier chapter rather than the rest of your day.” Even moving to a different room can be enough to interrupt the spiral.

A 2023 study put that theory to the test: 100 people took a 30-minute walk in either a natural or urban setting, and both groups showed significant, equal improvements in mood. Positive affect increased, and negative affect dropped, surprisingly with no real difference between the nature and city settings. The takeaway: Getting outside and moving your body seems to boost your mood regardless of the scenery, meaning the shift in context itself may be doing the heavy lifting.

Get up and move

Moving your body helps take you out of threat mode, even if it’s brief: a walk around the block, a few jumping jacks or anything else that shifts your physical state. “Get up and move, and get that stress hormone cortisol out of the body,” Leahy says. “You don’t need a workout. A brisk walk, stretching or doing something physically active can help move your attention out of your head and back into your body.”

The reason? According Hafeez, that movement gives the body “somewhere to put the energy that comes with a stress response and can help shift attention away from the stressful event.”

Experts more formally established that in a 2021 study where 83 young men did 30 minutes of treadmill exercise at varying intensities, then faced a stressful task 45 minutes later. The harder they’d worked out, the faster their bodies calmed back down afterward: Those who exercised vigorously recovered in about 81 minutes, versus 91 minutes for the light-exercise group.

Get into nature

“Nature is one I recommend a lot, and the science on this grows by the day,” Leahy says. “Being outside gives your attention somewhere else to go. Even noticing the sky, trees, weather or something beautiful around you can create some psychological distance from the problem. We don’t have to live in a nature preserve to get this benefit.”

Time outdoors also has a physiological angle: Sunlight, protein-rich food and, eventually, sleep all help your brain replenish the dopamine and serotonin it needs, rather than simply masking a low mood.

Reset your breathing

Slowing your breathing, and making your exhale longer than your inhale, is one of the few direct physical levers you have on your stress response. Even doing it for just a minute can tell your body the emergency is over.

Hafeez explains the science behind that: “Slow breathing with a longer exhale can reduce physiological arousal and encourage the parasympathetic, or ‘rest and recover,’ side of the nervous system to take over.” She’s referring to a 2023 Stanford study of 111 people who spent five minutes a day, for a month, on one of several techniques: cyclic sighing (breathing with long exhales), other breathing patterns or meditation. The breathing groups beat meditation on mood improvement by about a third. And the cyclic-sighing group kept breathing slower all day long, not just during their five minutes of practice, meaning the calming effect stuck around well past the exercise itself.

Though these are separate tips, they’re really all deliberate interruptors that stop the spiral before it gets worse. Le Goy sums up why they work: “All of these practices help us build resilience. When we build resilience, we can learn to manage life’s ups and downs without letting them hijack our emotions.”

What’s the most important thing you can do?

Catch yourself while you’re still in the moment, before the feeling hardens into a verdict about the whole day. “Notice what the brain is doing,” Leahy says. “Don’t make a global judgment while you’re still emotionally activated. Instead of saying, ‘Today is awful,’ try, ‘The last 20 minutes were awful.’ That sounds almost ridiculously simple, but psychologically, it matters.”

That reframe isn’t just a nice idea. A 2022 review of 99 studies found that people who reframe stressful situations, rather than catastrophizing them, tend to be happier and less anxious and depressed. And the skill is trainable fast: Even a week of practice led to measurable improvements in how people handled their emotions.

What’s the worst thing you can do in this moment?

Ironically, trying too hard to feel better. The experts point to the same trap: rushing to shut down the bad feeling instead of letting it exist for a minute.

Leahy says the real damage often comes from what we tell ourselves about being upset in the first place. “Sometimes it’s OK to just have a few hard moments,” he says. People start monitoring themselves, asking things like, “Why am I still upset? Shouldn’t I be over this?” Anytime he hears a patient say “should,” he pushes back. “That’s just the brain talking at you again,” he says. The goal isn’t forcing yourself to feel good—it’s to remind yourself that you’re going to keep living your day while this feeling settles down.

Le Goy agrees. Rushing to declare yourself “over it” skips the chance to actually tolerate the feeling and recover from it.

When should you just throw in the towel for the day?

When you’ve checked in with yourself and realized you’re out of fight, that’s the signal to stop trying to rescue the day and just let it end. But at the same time, realize it’s not the end of the world. “You can acknowledge and accept that you had a tough day without deciding that you are accepting a tough life,” Le Goy says. “The most important thing is taking time to check in with ourselves to see where we are in that moment, while acknowledging that we can make a different decision the next day or when we have the energy to do so.”

“Some evenings, the most productive thing you can do is stop trying to rescue the day,” says Leahy. His prescription is almost anticlimactic in its simplicity: Read a book, turn in early, remind yourself to start fresh tomorrow. You can also eat something, shower, get outside for a few minutes and spend time with someone you like. “Do something familiar and predictable,” he advises. And most important of all: Get some sleep rather than staying up late and mentally rehashing the day.

That evening is also a good time to check in on how you’re talking to yourself. “Self-talk is so powerful,” Le Goy says. “We often believe what we hear over and over, whether from other people or from ourselves.” Her litmus test: Would you say this to a close friend? “If not, it’s time to rethink that internal dialogue.”

Either way, all of the day’s issues don’t need to be resolved before bed. As Leahy puts it: “Tomorrow does not need you to solve today at 11:30 at night.”

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on how to recover from a bad day, Tara Cox tapped her experience as a longtime journalist who frequently covers lifestyle topics and cultural trends. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Patrice Le Goy, PhD, LMFT, MBA, psychologist, therapist, and adjunct professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology; email interview, September 2026
• Matthew Leahy, PhD, licensed psychologist in private practice in Dallas; email interview, September 2026
• Sanam Hafeez, neuropsychologist and director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services; email interview, September 2026
• Translational Psychiatry: “Decentering as a Core Component in the Psychological Treatment and Prevention of Youth Anxiety and Depression: A Narrative Review and Insight Report” 
• Advances in Medical Education and Practice: “The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation on Trait Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, Cortisol, and C-Reactive Protein in Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial”
• Psychoneuroendocrinology: “A Short Mindfulness Retreat Can Improve Biological Markers of Stress and Inflammation” 
• Frontiers in Psychology: “Measuring Affect and Complex Working Memory in Natural and Urban Environments” 
• Psychoneuroendocrinology: “The Effects of Exercise Intensity on the Cortisol Response to a Subsequent Acute Psychosocial Stressor”
• Cell Reports Medicine: “Brief Structured Respiration Practices Enhance Mood and Reduce Physiological Arousal” 
• Emotion Review: “Positive Cognitive Reappraisal in Stress Resilience, Mental Health, and Well-Being: A Comprehensive Systematic Review” 

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Now Lee is back with the third installment, American Hagwon, and this time, she’s exploring what happens when the pursuit of a better life gets tangled up with the pursuit of a better education. The novel follows John and Helen Koh and their three children after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and a personal betrayal shatter their middle-class life in Seoul. This sends the family first to Sydney and eventually to Southern California. And while the title refers to Korea’s private after-school educational centers, Lee says the story reaches far beyond the classroom. “It’s about education and diaspora and immigration, but mostly it’s about loyalty and sacrifices that we make in order to survive when terrible things that we don’t expect happen,” she tells us.

For this episode of The Reader’s Digest Escalator Interview, we caught up with Lee to talk about American Hagwon, the larger four-book project and where she finds the inspiration for characters who feel so vividly real. Her answer? “People in the real world,” she says. “I interview thousands of Koreans from around the world, and I’m really privileged to know many of them very well.” Of course, we also asked the questions every book lover really wants answered. Lee revealed her favorite reading spot, took us inside her writing routine (yes, there’s coffee), shared the hardest part about being a writer and dished on her writing snack of choice. Because even an epic literary project about the Korean diaspora requires snacks.

Read on for our exclusive interview with Min Jin Lee, and shop her recommended reads below!

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Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece, Leigh Belz Ray interviewed author Min Jin Lee. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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The internet, naturally, lost its mind over this anecdote. The debate split pretty cleanly along generational lines. Older people saw the drink and thought, Pshaw! We used to go to interviews in our best suits, with our résumés printed on actual paper. Younger people saw the same coffee and thought, OK? And? Others pointed out that maybe the bigger story wasn’t the beverage but the job market, where getting an entry-level job increasingly feels like applying to become an astronaut.

All of which raises the question: Is it actually rude to bring an iced coffee—or tea or water bottle—into a job interview? 

Admit it: You had an immediate gut reaction the second you read that question. As did I. There’s something about the image of an artfully poured coffee in an interview that feels either inappropriately bougie or completely innocuous, depending on how many years you’ve spent being told to “dress for the job you want.”

But as a Millennial, I have the rare privilege of being able to be in this generational battle with very low stakes. I’m just glad that for once no one is yelling at us. I’m not here to referee TikTok, settle the beverage wars between Gen Z vs. everyone else, or confiscate anyone’s Stanley. I’m here to render an etiquette verdict. So let’s do it.

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The case for bringing your cold brew

“It’s taking care of a basic need. I don’t see what the big deal is,” says Rebecca M., a former hiring manager for several large companies who has sat in on hundreds of job interviews. And really, that’s the basis of most of the “go for it” arguments: Humans drink things. “Am I allowed to admit this? I always bring my water bottle. Hydration is very important!” she says. “So maybe I need extra water to be my best self, and maybe they need extra caffeine.” 

Plus, for many people, holding a coffee calms their nerves and gives them something to do with their hands. “It’s one reason why we so often offer a drink to candidates,” she adds. “We want them to feel comfortable.” 

And, most importantly, it does not say anything about the person’s ability to do the job. Unless the job is making coffee. Then I suppose it could be gauche to bring in a rival barista’s work. 

But there is a more subtle reason some people are doing this: a tiny bit of rebellion. Older generations have set the workplace norms for decades, and some of these norms have made basic human needs considerably more complicated than necessary. Think: high heels for walking, three-piece suits in the summer and a devotion to email that feels almost cultlike. 

Norms change. That’s how norms work. “I have heard of this, but mostly as a ‘haha, boomers are so sensitive’ thing,” says Nav A., a Gen Zer who graduated in May and just landed his first job. (Congrats!) Did he bring a drink to his interview? “I always bring a water bottle. It never occurred to me not to,” he says. “For me, it’s such a small thing that if the interviewer has an issue with it, that’s a big red flag that maybe this isn’t somewhere I want to work.”

The case against bringing your emotional support cup

It’s less about the iced latte and more about what the iced latte communicates. Are you taking this seriously? Do you really want this job? Or is this just something to check off on your to-do list? 

First impressions form fast. “Unfortunately, Gen Z is already seen as fragile, oblivious, self-centered and unprepared, and bringing a fancy coffee may reinforce that stereotype,” says Brandon P., a Gen X manager at a tech company who hires a lot of younger people. To be clear, he doesn’t agree with the stereotype and says some of his best workers are Gen Z. “But I’ll be honest: I would think the person was unprofessional. It’s not the worst mistake, but when every little thing counts in a first impression, I’d avoid anything that might bias the interviewer against you.” 

And that’s the real issue: You have no idea who is sitting across from you. The interviewer might be completely unfazed by your almond-milk pumpkin-spice cold brew. They might even think it’s adorable! They might barely register it. Or they might spend the first five minutes of the interview wondering why you couldn’t go 45 minutes without caffeine. Some people might be enraged by it. Or, says Rebecca, they might have misophonia, a common condition that makes people extra sensitive to noises like drinking or slurping.

Then there’s logistics. While holding a cup may comfort you, spilling it all over your lap, the carpet or (heaven forbid) the interviewer is unlikely to improve your chances of getting hired. Is this common? No. But there’s zero chance of this happening if you’re just not holding a drink in the first place. Plus, those iced drinks always form condensation on the outside, which makes them wet and drippy. Then, when the interviewer goes to shake your hand, you’ll only have one hand free, and it might be … moist. Ugh.

There’s also the matter of how you drink it. “I wouldn’t say a drink itself is rude, but I sure have seen people drink it in a very rude way,” Rebecca says. Slurping. Chewing ice. Stirring it noisily. Aggressively crinkling the plastic cup. Leaving drips, napkins, stirrers or the entire beverage behind for someone else to clean up.

But at that point, the problem isn’t that the coffee is rude—it’s that you are rude. 

The gray areas

Not everything is cut and dried (and then added to an herbal tea blend). A lot of good etiquette depends on how you do it. Here are a few factors to consider when deciding whether your beverage should ride along for your interview.

• The industry. Know your audience. Some offices are more casual than others. Interviewing for a social-work position? A coffee is practically part of the uniform. Walking into a law firm with a 32-ounce chocolate monstrosity covered in whipped cream? You may want to reconsider.
• The interview format. Many things that work fine over Zoom don’t translate well in real life, and a large, elaborate drink may be one of those. If your interview is in person, consider skipping the coffee or at least bringing it in a spill-proof mug. 
• The drink type. A closed, spill-free water bottle is the safest beverage choice. Nav says his reusable water bottle was actually a small positive during his interview for a job in the environmental industry, where sustainability mattered. And Rebecca adds: “I think a reusable water bottle just makes you look like a more responsible human in general.” On the other hand, an open coffee or one with a weak lid may make you look careless, while an overly elaborate drink may make you look high-maintenance. 
• What you do with it afterward. Under no circumstances should you leave your used beverage cup on a desk or table where someone else will have to clean it up for you. If you spill, wipe it up. Make sure all wrappers and straws also end up in the garbage.

The verdict

No, it’s not rude to bring an iced coffee to a job interview … but it’s also not risk-free. There’s an important distinction between rude and strategically smart. A drink doesn’t automatically communicate disrespect, laziness or a lack of interest in the job. Plenty of perfectly professional adults drink coffee all day long. But if you’re interviewing somewhere formal, you don’t know the interviewer or you’re already nervous about making a good impression, there’s very little to gain from arriving with a giant iced coffee.

“If you’re not sure if it’s OK, err on the side of safety,” Brandon says. “No one has ever not gotten a job because they didn’t bring in an iced latte.”

And there is a very simple solution: You don’t have to pretend your caffeine addiction doesn’t exist. You can simply finish drinking the coffee before you walk through the door.

At the end of the day, though, I suspect this whole debate may be one of those internet tempests in a teapot. Not one person I talked to had actually witnessed an iced-coffee interview scandal in the wild. And while most agreed they wouldn’t bring a specialty coffee into an interview themselves, they also said they wouldn’t be particularly offended if someone else did.

So perhaps we can all agree that the latte is not the real problem here. There are bigger etiquette questions to fight about, like whether “no problem” is an acceptable response to “thank you” and how many times you can double-text someone before it officially becomes a situation. 

Have a social situation you can’t stop ruminating on? Email us at advice@tmbi.com, or message Charlotte on Instagram at @CharlotteHiltonAndersen.

Why trust us

Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of etiquette stories that help readers navigate communication in a changing world. We regularly cover topics such as the best messages to send for any occasion, polite habits that aren’t as polite as they seem, email and texting etiquette, business etiquette, tipping etiquette, travel etiquette and more. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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So we wanted to give those moments the attention they deserve. From a flight attendant who helped a tired mom to runners who sacrificed their own finish times to astronauts who know the true meaning of friendship, the acts of kindness in this story will give you a little break from everything else going on—and help you remember that good people are still out there doing really good things.

Read on for the heartwarming moments that have made 2026 a little brighter.

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The tip of a lifetime

In late March, Boise pizza delivery driver Dan Simpson learned his Domino’s location had run out of the Diet Coke a customer had ordered. Rather than arrive empty-handed, the 68-year-old stopped at a convenience store and bought the drinks himself. The small gesture was caught on the customer’s Ring camera and went viral—and when people learned Simpson was preparing to retire after 14 years of delivering pizzas, they returned the kindness in a big way. More than 8,000 people contributed $170,000 to a fundraiser for his retirement, allowing “Dan the Man” to officially hang up his delivery bag in May.

A lunch break that led to friendship

During a shift in August, a Wendy’s employee named Dara approached Florida homeowner Abigail Mwaungulu with an unusual request: Could she spend her lunch break on the porch? Mwaungulu said yes, and her Ring camera captured the beginning of a new friendship. As more of Dara’s story came to light—including the fact that she walks to work every day—people watching online wanted to do something for her too. They started a fundraiser that has since brought in more than $17,000 to help with Dara’s transportation, education and whatever she may need for what comes next.

A little help at 30,000 feet

On Sept. 2, Republic Airways flight attendant Monique Harris noticed an exhausted mother nodding off with her baby on a flight from Newark to Grand Rapids, Michigan. When the baby began slipping from the mother’s lap, Harris quickly caught him and offered to hold him while Mom got some much-needed sleep. Another person on the plane snapped a photo of the tender moment, which went viral on Instagram, earning more than 200,000 likes within days.

Talk about a photo finish!

About 1,000 feet from the end of the Boston Marathon in April, American Ajay Haridasse stumbled and fell. Seeing him on the ground, two other runners, Aaron Beggs of Northern Ireland and Robson De Oliveira of Brazil, helped him up, sacrificing their own personal best times to do so. Each draped one of Haridasse’s arms over their shoulders to carry him the rest of the way and across the finish line.

Hollywood honors Catherine O’Hara

Fans of Catherine O’Hara were heartbroken when the beloved comedy icon died in January. Then in March, she posthumously won an Actor Award for her work on the sitcom The Studio. Showrunner Seth Rogen accepted on her behalf, and in his speech, Rogen said of his friend and co-star, “She really showed that you can be a genius and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other.”

Not golden, but a good sport

American figure skater Ilia Malinin (aka the “Quad God”) was the heavy favorite to win the men’s singles competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina in February. But during his free skate performance, Malinin fell twice and finished well outside of medal contention. Despite his disappointment, Malinin was the first to congratulate the gold medal winner, Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan. His show of sportsmanship earned him the Fair Play Award, an international prize voted on by the public, after a record-breaking number of votes cast by fans worldwide.

A crater for Carroll

The world watched as the Artemis II astronauts made their 10-day trek around the moon in April. Their journey took them farther from Earth than humans had ever been, making them the first to see certain parts of the far side of the moon. This meant that they also got to propose names for two previously undiscovered craters, and for one of them, they chose to honor the late wife of their commander, Reid Wiseman.

In a video message to Mission Control, an audibly emotional Jeremy Hansen described the crater as “a bright spot on the moon” before saying, “We would like to call it Carroll.” As Hansen spoke, his fellow crew members were seen dabbing at their eyes. Then the four astronauts floated toward one another and embraced in a zero-gravity hug.

Birthday wishes for Willie

While presenting an award at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May, Shania Twain and Shaboozey asked the audience at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to join them in wishing Willie Nelson a happy birthday. Nelson, who wasn’t in attendance that night, had just turned 93, and an arena full of country music fans wanted the legendary singer/songwriter to feel the love. So in unison, they shouted, “Happy birthday, Willie!” while Shaboozey recorded the moment on his phone to send to the star.

Comics choose respect over ratings

After a decade on the air, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert came to a close in May. Leading up to the last show, many of Colbert’s famous friends stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater to say goodbye, including fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver. The quintet appeared all together at one of Colbert’s final tapings, and both Kimmel and Fallon (whose time slots coincided with Colbert’s) aired reruns the night of his send-off so as not to compete with their friend’s farewell.

Team Japan cleans up nice

As the FIFA World Cup got underway in June, Japanese soccer fans went viral for how they helped clean up after games, filling blue garbage bags with other people’s trash on their way out of Texas Stadium in Dallas and Estadio Monterrey in Mexico. “We are honored to be here,” one fan explained to USA Today. “So we don’t want to make a mess and then leave it.”

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

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Now, let me put this out there first: If you’re a night owl, you’re not being lazy. Some of us just aren’t hardwired to be at our peak in the a.m. I’ll admit I need at least three cups of coffee in the morning for my brain to come online. And you’ll never catch me at the gym before work.

So what makes someone an early bird (often called a morning lark) vs. a night owl? And how can a true night person become an up-and-at-’em type? It’s key info to know, living in our morning-oriented world. If you ever have to rise early for school, kids or your job, you may need to nudge your clock forward.

To find out how to do just that, I consulted M. Taruj Ali, MD, a sleep medicine specialist in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and chief medical officer of SOMOS Health Precision Sleep & Metabolic Care, and Brian Gunia, PhD, a professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore whose research shattered a huge myth about night people. Read on to learn what determines if you’re a lark or an owl, how your type changes over time, and how to become a morning person—without chugging a vat of espresso every day.

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Why are some people morning people, while others are night owls?

We all have a chronotype, which is a fancy name for your body’s preference for when you sleep and when you wake, says Dr. Ali. Your chronotype reflects your circadian body clock—the roughly 24-hour internal clock that regulates when your body wakes up and sleeps—as well as body temperature and digestion.

Basically, your genes and circadian body clock control whether you hit your stride early or later in the day. “Being a night owl is mostly determined by biology,” Dr. Ali says. “Our brain has a master clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is a tiny cluster of cells in the hypothalamus that controls the daily rhythm of sleep and wake cycles.”

Thanks to this internal clock, you have a daily rhythm all your own. “People’s energy naturally ebbs and flows in reliable 24-hour cycles, or circadian processes,” Gunia says. Some of us have peak energy and mental alertness during the morning hours, then drag later in the day. (Um, 4 p.m. slump, anyone?) Others are pretty fatigued in the morning but slowly ramp up their energy and alertness throughout the day, hitting their peak in the evening.

While many of us have a clear preference toward morningness or eveningness, some of us could go either way.

Can you actually change your natural inclination to be a night owl?

We’re not going to sugarcoat it: You can, but it’s no easy task. Since your chronotype is partly genetic and largely controlled by your brain, you’ll have some hoops to jump through. “People can, and do, change their chronotype somewhat,” Gunia says, but he only recommends attempting it for a concrete reason. For example, maybe you need to be up early to take care of a child, or you have a new job that requires you to clock in earlier.

Just keep in mind that you’re most likely to succeed if you follow your new schedule strictly. Translation: No following the rules during the week and then sleeping until noon and partying half the night on the weekends. (Sorry!)

So how do you become a morning person?

To shift your schedule, you need to reset your body’s circadian clock. How the heck do you do that? We’re so glad you asked. With a few simple strategies and a bit of patience, you can learn to seize the day.

Get early light

The single most powerful lever for changing your chronotype is light exposure. “Light that hits the retina is the strongest signal that resets the circadian clock,” Dr. Ali says. Morning light, in particular, shifts our body clock forward. And it’s most likely to make a difference within an hour after waking, according to the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Your best bet is to head outside and soak up natural sunlight first thing in the morning. If you can’t get under the rays within an hour of waking up, there’s a workaround: Sitting near an artificial “light box” with full-spectrum light can also do the trick, Dr. Ali says. The light from one of these special devices hits your retina and triggers your SCN to move up your circadian clock. Look for a light-therapy box that emits 10,000 lux, and sit by it for 10 to 15 minutes after waking (say, sip your coffee by its energizing glow). You can find the devices on Amazon; some even double as alarm clocks.

Microdose melatonin

Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the brain that helps our bodies know when to zonk out and when to rise. Taking a melatonin supplement—aka a synthetic form of it—can help you fall asleep when you want. To nudge your bedtime (and body clock) earlier, try taking melatonin two hours before bedtime. Stick with a small dose, though, so it doesn’t backfire and throw your system completely off. Dr. Ali recommends 1 to 3 milligrams.

Ban blue light at night

Being around any bright light in the evening will push back your clock, making it tougher to doze off at your chosen bedtime and feel alive in the morning. So it’s a good idea to dim your overheads and avoid devices for at least an hour or two before bed.

Why? Your circadian clock is most sensitive to exposure to light—particularly blue light or full spectrum, which contains blue—at night, when the sun isn’t shining. Even lamplight can mess with your circadian rhythms and make you more of a night owl, so go as dim as you can stand it, particularly close to bedtime.

Overall, it’s a good idea to skip the screens an hour before bedtime. If you have to read on a device or check a quick email, rock blue-light-blocking glasses or use a blue-light filter on your phone. (Yes, they do actually do something!)

Work out … but not too close to bedtime

Getting regular exercise is crucial to sleeping well and being able to get going in the morning. A 2023 study review published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science found that consistent, moderate exercise may improve sleep quality and cut down on difficulty falling asleep at night. The researchers attributed these benefits to the fact that exercise regulates circadian rhythms and causes your body to release stress-relieving endorphins, as well as neurotransmitters like serotonin that make us more relaxed.

Just one caveat: Don’t do a strenuous session (taking a HIIT class, going for a run) in the evening, because it can make it harder to fall asleep, per this study. That’s likely because intense nighttime exercise pushes back your circadian clock, delaying when your brain releases melatonin (which helps you sleep).

Set an earlier sleep and wake time, and try to stick to it

By being consistent about when you hit the hay and greet the day, you’ll reinforce your earlier-bird schedule. But the transition to becoming a morning lark may be a bit rocky, and that’s perfectly OK. If you happen to have a late night, don’t worry! Just keep on rising on time every day. (It’s hard, we know!)

So what should you do if you fall off the wagon?

First, don’t beat yourself up: It happens. You have a few late nights out. You sleep in. You’re battling jet lag and wide awake at 2 a.m. Here’s Dr. Ali’s advice: First, focus on waking up on time. Don’t worry about your bedtime yet. Just set that early alarm and hop (or drag yourself) out of bed at your desired time.

Then, after a few days of early rising, gradually—over a period of several days—start moving up your bedtime in 30-minute increments. So, for instance, the first night you would move it from midnight to 11:30 p.m.; the next night you aim for 11 p.m., and so on. Before you know it, you should be back on track.

Is it really better to be a morning person instead of a night owl?

The truth is, there’s no best chronotype, and there are pros and cons to both modes. For instance, morning people have better working memories, according to a 2021 study published in Sleep Advances. Meanwhile, “some studies suggest that evening people have slightly greater cognitive ability,” Gunia says. On the other hand, early birds may have a real-life edge, he notes. Night owls get stuck taking their SATs and giving work PowerPoints at 9 a.m., when they’re at a disadvantage.

Health-wise, larks seem to have an advantage. Evening people carry a higher risk for type 2 diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and heart disease. But Dr. Ali points out that “most of it is because of the mismatch between night owls’ internal clock biology and the morning-oriented world.” Research suggests these higher risks are mostly due to lifestyle habits that are more common in night owls, like eating poorly (and often late), drinking more and not sleeping regularly. 

But the real problem with trying to flip your chronotype is that it usually doesn’t fully work—evening people still feel somewhat fatigued in the morning, according to Gunia. So rather than fighting your biology, he says, it might make more sense to structure your workflow to match your tendency. Case in point: Gunia is a morning person and does his most challenging to-do’s, like writing, first thing in the morning. It’s a sound strategy, according to a 2021 study in Nature Communications, which found larks performed better at learning and attention tasks when they knocked them off in the morning, while night owls did better in the evening. 

And, weirdly enough, our chronotype may also shape when we are our best selves, according to research co-authored by Gunia and published in Psychological Science. The study found we are more ethical during our peak alertness times. While previous research had suggested that most people are more ethical in the morning—known as “the morning morality effect”—Gunia and his colleagues found this is only accurate for morning people. “Evening people seem to be most ethical in the evening,” he says.  “This suggests that people may want to make ethical decisions whenever in the day they feel most alert.” 

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on how to become a morning person, Lisa Lombardi tapped her experience as a longtime journalist who frequently writes about relationships, health and lifestyle for Reader’s Digest. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• M. Taruj Ali, MD, sleep medicine specialist in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and co-founder and chief medical officer of SOMOS Health Precision Sleep & Metabolic Care; email interview, Sept. 8, 2026
• Brian Gunia, PhD, professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore; email interview, Sept. 8, 2026
• Sleep Advances: “Chronotype as self-regulation: morning preference is associated with better working memory strategy independent of sleep”
• Sleep: “Genetic Basis of Chronotype in Humans: Insights from Three Landmark GWAS”
• Nature Communications: “Cognitive functions and underlying parameters of human brain physiology are associated with chronotype”
• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH): “Effects of Light on Circadian Rhythms”
• Cureus Journal of Medical Science: “The Effect of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality and Sleep Disorder: A Systematic Review”
• Psychological Science: “The Morality of Larks and Owls: Unethical Behavior Depends on Chronotype as Well as Time of Day”

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The post 5 Ways You Can Become a Morning Person (Yes, Even If You’re a Night Owl!) appeared first on Reader's Digest.

So how did high heels become a fashion statement and a fixture in women’s closets? And after centuries of being revered, are they on their way out? To get to the bottom of it all, we spoke with Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada.

Read on to learn how high heels climbed to the top of the fashion world—and whether they’re about to come back down to earth.

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When were high heels invented—and who wore them first?

There’s no single inventor we can credit with the high heel, or even an exact date when heels first appeared. What we do know is that they’ve been around for at least 1,000 years and were first worn by men. Their original purpose was all about function, not fashion, and they were mainly used in—get this—horseback riding! (More on that below.) Over the centuries, heels shifted in shape, height and meaning, moving between men’s and women’s wardrobes along the way.

What is the history of the high heel?

High heels have taken a surprisingly winding path from practical footwear to status symbol to fashion staple. Here’s the fascinating history behind high heels.

Persian riders used heels on horseback

The earliest known heels weren’t designed for walking—they were made for riding. “They were worn as far back as the 10th century in Persia as an equestrian tool used in tandem with the stirrup,” says Semmelhack. “This is why cowboys still wear heels.”

Worn mostly by male riders, they were sturdy and practical, with a chunky, block-shaped heel roughly an inch high. That little bit of height was enough to hook the foot more securely into the stirrup. Plus, the shoes themselves were made from tough animal leather, making them easier to withstand riding and harsh outdoor conditions.

Heels made their way into European fashion

By the 16th century, heels were beginning to take on a very different life in Europe. One of the most famous stories from this period of history involves Catherine de’ Medici. When the Italian noblewoman married the Duke of Orléans—the future Henry II of France—in 1533, she was just 14 years old. According to a story that has been repeated for generations, the petite Catherine had specially made heeled shoes created for the wedding to give her some extra height and presence when she arrived at the French court.

It’s a great story, but there’s a catch: Historians have questioned whether Catherine really introduced high heels to France this way, and there isn’t strong evidence to confirm the tale. What her story does show, though, is how closely heels would eventually become tied to European court life and appearance.

By the following century, that connection was much clearer … but men were at the center of it. “Heels entered Western fashion around the turn of the 17th century, with Northern European men adding them to their riding boots first,” Semmelhack says. “Over the course of the 17th century, men throughout Europe began to wear heels for fashion as well.”

And these weren’t men just trying to sneak an extra inch into their shoes. Heels became a real fashion statement, especially in Europe’s royal circles. Louis XIV of France is probably one of the most famous examples. He was known for wearing red heels, a style that became closely associated with his court. England’s Charles II got in on the trend too. A portrait from around 1675 to 1680 shows him wearing square-toed shoes with bright red heels.

Why did men stop wearing high heels?

“Heels were abandoned in men’s fashion for reasons associated with shifting ideas of gender in the 18th century,” Semmelhack says. “Men, it was suggested, were ‘rational,’ and men’s fashion changed to support this new idea of manliness that included the loss of the high heel. Women were positioned as ‘irrational,’ and heels off the horse are arguably impractical, so they became associated with both female irrationality and female desirability.”

Men didn’t abandon every kind of heel, though. Look at a classic brogue, and you’ll still find a small stacked heel, while cowboy and riding boots have more substantial ones. Plus, higher heels are still seen in men’s fashion, including in nightlife and contemporary designer collections.

When did heels become the women’s shoes we know, love and sometimes hate today?

According to Semmelhack, “the biggest innovation in heels came when steel started to be used to make extremely thin stilettos in the early 1950s.” And designers ran with it. One of the biggest names was French shoe designer Roger Vivier, often called the “father of the stiletto.” While designing shoes for Christian Dior in the 1950s, Vivier became known for treating the heel almost like a piece of architecture, experimenting with new shapes and silhouettes rather than simply changing its height.

Among the designs most closely associated with him was the Aiguille heel. Aiguille means “needle” in French, and the name tells you pretty much everything you need to know. It was incredibly slender and sharply tapered, creating the kind of delicate, needle-thin silhouette that helped define the modern stiletto. Vivier would go on to experiment with other distinctive shapes too, including curved and sculptural heels, helping turn the heel itself into part of the design rather than something simply holding up the back of a shoe.

Then Carrie Bradshaw took that obsession to another level. When Sex and the City debuted in 1998, Carrie’s designer heels became almost as memorable as her dating life. Manolo Blahniks weren’t just sitting quietly in her closet either. They made their way into storylines about money, relationships and even marriage, helping turn the designer heel into both a fashion statement and a pop-culture phenomenon. By the early 2000s, a pair of stilettos could be something to save up for, obsess over and plan an entire outfit around.

Are heels on their way out?

Heels aren’t disappearing, but they have a lot more competition these days. Comfort-first dressing got a major boost during the pandemic, when commutes and nights out suddenly disappeared for millions of people. Flats, sneakers and other easy-to-wear shoes had a moment, and they didn’t exactly vanish once everyone started going out again.

Still, don’t count heels out. “I have been asking myself this question a lot lately,” Semmelhack says. “Heels are central to Republican constructs of femininity at the moment, but they are also having a resurgence in high fashion, where the sculptural possibilities of heels are being played with. It is an interesting moment in the history of the high heel.”

So high heels probably aren’t headed for the history books. After centuries of changing shape and even who wears them, they may simply be changing again.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on the history of high heels, Mariah Thomas tapped her experience covering history, fashion and more for Reader’s Digest. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada; email interview, Sept. 17, 2026
• Firenze Made in Tuscany: “The Whole Story of Catherine de Medici”
• Roger Vivier: “Roger Vivier, the Fabergé of Footwear”

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The post This Is the Surprising Reason Why High Heels Were Invented—And Who Wore Them First appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Aries (March 21–April 19)

As the first sign of the zodiac, you’re a natural starter, Aries. Ruled by energetic Mars, you’re at your best when there’s a challenge to conquer, a goal to chase or someplace new to go. Unfortunately, adult life involves an awful lot of maintenance. Paying bills, doing laundry and having the same meeting every Tuesday can make an Aries want to crawl out of their skin.

If you’re in a rut, don’t try to transform yourself into someone who loves routine. Instead, give yourself something new to conquer. At work, volunteer for a project that stretches your skills, pitch an idea or set a goal with a finish line you can actually see. If your relationship feels stale, plan a date that gets both of you off the couch. Take a boxing class, go hiking or make a reservation at that restaurant across town you’ve been dying to try.

You can even turn mundane chores into a competition with yourself. Set a timer for 30 minutes, put on some music and see how much you can knock out before the buzzer. And remember: Your ability to compete in the financial world should inspire you too.

The pitfall? You can mistake boredom for failure. Before quitting a job, abandoning a goal or deciding a relationship has run its course, ask yourself whether you really want out or simply need a fresh challenge within the life you already have.

Taurus (April 20–May 20)

Taurus is an earth sign ruled by Venus, the planet associated with beauty, pleasure and love, and you need a life that feels good in the real, tangible world. A beautiful home, delicious food, financial security and people you can count on aren’t frivolous extras for you—they’re what you need to feel grounded. So when life gets off track, start with your physical environment. Clean out the refrigerator, buy fresh sheets, cook yourself a real meal or finally deal with that pile of stuff you’ve been stepping around for three months. Don’t underestimate how much changing your surroundings can change your mood. And pay special attention to color palettes.

Money is another important piece of the Taurus puzzle. You crave security, so vague financial goals can create unnecessary anxiety. Pick something concrete: Pay off a credit card, save a specific amount or set aside money for a vacation you can already picture yourself taking. Automating your savings can help, because once a good Taurus habit takes root, it tends to stay there.

The same goes for relationships. You value loyalty, but that can sometimes keep you in situations long after their expiration date. Your famous stubborn streak is wonderful when you’re building something worthwhile; it’s less useful when you’re hanging on simply because change feels uncomfortable. Ask yourself: Does this still make my life better, or am I just used to it?

Gemini (May 21–June 20)

Quick-thinking Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet associated with communication, and your mind needs stimulation. You’re curious, witty and full of ideas. But when every day starts looking exactly like the one before it, your energy can take a nosedive. Your reset word is variety. If work feels dull, ask to take on a different responsibility, work somewhere new for an afternoon or schedule lunch with a colleague who always gets your brain buzzing. If you’ve been thinking about taking a class, learning a language or starting a hobby, do it. Your curiosity isn’t a distraction from your adult life; it’s one of the things that keeps you engaged with it!

Your relationships need variety as well. Call the friend you haven’t talked to in six months. Plan a weekend road trip. Ask your partner a question you’ve never asked before. Gemini is the communicator of the zodiac, and talking things out often helps you figure out what you actually want.

But watch your tendency to scatter your energy: 12 exciting ideas can quickly become 12 unfinished projects. Choose one thing you want to change this month, and follow it through before chasing the next shiny object.

Cancer (June 21–July 22)

Home really is where the heart is for Cancer. You’re sensitive, intuitive and deeply connected to family and the people you consider family, so when your home life feels chaotic, everything else can feel off too. Begin your reset there. You don’t need a magazine-worthy makeover. Clear one room that’s become cluttered, create a comfortable place to eat dinner, or establish a little corner where you can read, think or drink your morning coffee without interruption. If you work remotely, make sure you have a dedicated workspace so your job doesn’t ooze into every inch of your sanctuary.

Cancer also has a tremendous instinct for nurturing others. That makes you the person others call when they’re upset, sick or simply need someone to listen. Yes, it’s lovely in many ways, but being everyone’s emotional emergency room can leave you depleted. Spend time working out, or head to a spa for a reset.

Try putting one appointment with yourself on your calendar every week and treating it as seriously as you would a commitment to someone you love. And if you’re worried about money, create a small emergency fund, even if you start with just a few dollars every week. Security gives Cancer room to breathe.

One word of warning: Don’t confuse caring with caretaking. Sometimes the most loving thing you can say is: “I can’t do that today.”

Leo (July 23–Aug. 22)

Leo is ruled by the Sun, and you’re here to shine. That doesn’t mean every Leo wants to become famous, of course. It means you need opportunities to express yourself, create and feel that what you contribute actually matters.

If you’ve been going through the motions, ask yourself where you’ve become an understudy in your own life. At work, stop quietly doing excellent work and hoping somebody notices. Speak up in the meeting, apply for the promotion or show your boss what you’ve accomplished. In your personal life, revive something that makes you feel creative, whether that’s singing, decorating, dancing or hosting a fabulous dinner.

Relationships are important to warmhearted Leo, and appreciation matters too. But rather than stewing because somebody hasn’t noticed everything you do, tell them what you need. And make sure you’re giving that appreciation back.

The pitfall you need to watch out for? Looking outside yourself for applause. Likes, compliments and recognition feel wonderful, but they can’t be your only fuel source. Pick one goal that would make you proud, even if nobody else knew you accomplished it. That’s the kind of spotlight that never gets switched off. To keep that perspective top of mind, put an inspirational quote on your fridge to light you up every day.

Virgo (Aug. 23–Sept. 22)

Virgo is the gardener in my astrology system, and that image tells you a lot about how this practical earth sign operates. You’re brilliant at tending things, whether that means improving a project, organizing a household, helping a friend or figuring out why the dishwasher is making that weird noise. The trouble begins when everything starts looking like it needs improvement, including you.

If your life feels overwhelming, resist the urge to overhaul the whole thing. Pick three things that genuinely need your attention. Maybe it’s making a doctor’s appointment you’ve postponed, creating a workable monthly budget and clearing your desk so you can actually see it again. Then stop. You do not need a 47-item self-improvement plan.

At work, decide which tasks actually move a project forward instead of polishing every detail. At home, create simple routines that eliminate recurring annoyances. Put your keys in the same place. Schedule automatic bill payments. Make a basic meal plan. And in relationships, remember that the people you love aren’t projects. Sometimes they want your company, not your excellent suggestions.

Warning: Watch out for perfectionism masquerading as productivity. “Better” is often good enough. Let the garden grow.

Libra (Sept. 23–Oct. 22)

Libra is the zodiac’s great relationship sign. Ruled by Venus, you have a natural ability to see another person’s point of view, create harmony and make people feel comfortable. Those are fantastic adulting skills, right up until you become so busy considering everyone else that you lose track of what you want. So your reset begins with a decision. Choose something you’ve been endlessly weighing, and give yourself a deadline. Which vacation should you take? Do you want the new job? Which sofa should you buy? Gather the information you need, sleep on it and decide. No additional committee meetings required.

This applies to relationships too. Before asking your partner, best friend, mother and group chat what they think, ask yourself first. Write down your answer if you need to. You might be surprised by how quickly it comes. At work, practice stating your opinion before hearing everyone else’s. With money, create a personal spending category that you control without anybody else’s input.

Your gift for compromise is precious, but compromise only works when you bring your own desires to the table. Otherwise, you aren’t meeting someone halfway; you’re simply walking over to their side.

Scorpio (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)

Scorpio is the shaman in my astrology system, since this sign is associated with transformation, depth and rebirth. You have a remarkable ability to reinvent yourself, but first you have to be willing to let something die. Don’t panic—we’re talking metaphorically!

If you feel stuck in life, take inventory of what you’ve outgrown. Is there a friendship that exists mostly because you’ve known each other forever? A job that once challenged you but now drains you? A closet full of possessions belonging to a version of yourself you left behind years ago? Pick one area and purge. Delete the apps you never use. Donate the clothes. Cancel the subscription. Have the conversation you’ve been avoiding. Update the résumé. Money deserves the same fearless examination. Look at your accounts, debts and spending instead of avoiding whatever makes you uncomfortable. Scorpio does surprisingly well when the truth is out in the open because then you can do something about it.

Just don’t confuse transformation with destruction. You don’t have to burn down your whole life to change it. Sometimes removing one dead branch is enough to let new growth through. And for you, the most expansive growth will be in your romantic relationships.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22–Dec. 21)

Sagittarius is the explorer of the zodiac. Ruled by Jupiter, you thrive on adventure, learning and the feeling that life contains possibilities you haven’t discovered yet. When you feel trapped, your first instinct may be to book a ticket somewhere far away. And if you can afford the trip, go! Travel can be genuinely restorative for Sagittarius.

But expansion doesn’t require an airport. Take a class in something you know nothing about. Visit a neighborhood you’ve never explored. Go to a museum alone. Invite someone with a completely different background to lunch. At work, look for opportunities to teach, travel, present or acquire a new skill. Your enthusiasm returns when your world gets bigger.

Money requires a little more discipline. Your optimism can persuade you that future-you will somehow take care of whatever present-you puts on the credit card. Create a separate travel or adventure fund, and use that money guilt-free. In relationships, make sure freedom goes both ways. You need room to roam, but so do the people you love.

Remember, though: The answer doesn’t always lie somewhere else. Before escaping your current life, see whether you can grow within it.

Capricorn (Dec. 22–Jan. 19)

Capricorn, you are built for adulting. You’re ambitious, practical and naturally aware that worthwhile things take time. Give you a mountain and you’ll start figuring out the route to the summit while everyone else is still discussing footwear. But capable Capricorn can end up carrying far too much.

If your life needs a reset, choose your most important mountain. Maybe you want to buy a home, change careers, get out of debt or finally finish a degree. Write down the goal, break it into smaller milestones and put actual dates beside them. You’re at your best when progress is measurable and when you work one step at a time, in a grounded way. Then look at everything else you’re doing and decide what can wait. Being responsible doesn’t mean volunteering to carry every responsibility in sight. This is especially important in families and relationships, where Capricorn can quietly become the CEO, CFO and facilities manager. Delegate. Ask for help. Let someone else make dinner badly.

Your pitfall is postponing happiness until you reach the next milestone. Schedule pleasure with the same seriousness you schedule work. There will always be another mountain.

Aquarius (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)

Independent Aquarius is the zodiac’s innovator. You’re interested in what’s next, what’s possible and how things could work differently. So why are you still living according to a rule you stopped believing in five years ago? You are an air sign, and your inventive mind is your greatest gift. Look around for a “should.” You should have this kind of career. You should spend weekends this way. You should own a house by a certain age. You should have a particular kind of relationship. Then ask yourself who made that rule.

At work, experiment with technology or a new system that eliminates something tedious. If your schedule isn’t working, rearrange it. In your social life, seek out people who share your interests rather than maintaining friendships solely because you’ve known someone forever.

Aquarius is also associated with groups and community, so if you’ve become isolated, join something. Volunteer for a cause, find a local organization or seek out people who are fascinated by the same wonderfully obscure thing you are.

Just don’t rebel for the sake of rebellion. A conventional solution isn’t automatically a bad one. Keep the rules that work; toss the ones that don’t.

Pisces (Feb. 19–March 20)

Dreamy Pisces is imaginative, intuitive and creative. You can picture possibilities other people don’t see, which is an extraordinary gift. The adulting problem arrives when those possibilities remain beautiful little movies playing inside your head. Your reset is to make one dream concrete. Want to write a book? Set a weekly page goal. Dreaming of Paris? Open a vacation account and automatically deposit money into it every payday. Want a different career? Spend one hour this week researching what training you would actually need. Creativity becomes powerful when you give it a container.

Your environment matters too. Pisces absorbs atmosphere easily, so create spaces that help you feel calm and inspired. Music, water, art, meditation or simply taking a walk without your phone can help you clear out other people’s noise and hear your own thoughts again. And remember: Relationships require boundaries. Your empathy can make somebody else’s crisis feel like your responsibility. Before rushing in to rescue someone, ask whether they actually need your help and whether you genuinely have the energy to give it.

Your pitfall is waiting for inspiration, rescue or the perfect moment. Put one date on the calendar, and take one practical step. Dreams need feet.

Check out Jill Dearman’s new book, Super-Powered Astrology: Four Steps to a New You for a New Astrological Age, out now.

Why trust us

Reader’s Digest provides an easy-to-understand guide to all things astrology—from understanding sun signs, moon signs and rising signs to exploring each zodiac sign’s strengths, challenges and desires. You’ll learn about your ideal match in love, career, hobbies and more, as well as learn how big astrological events will affect you. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including practicing astrologers, as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on how to adult based on your zodiac sign, Jill Dearman tapped her 20-plus years of experience as an astrologer. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

The post Here’s How to Adult the Right Way and Get Your Life on Track, According to Your Zodiac Sign appeared first on Reader's Digest.

The list ahead includes practical picks, sentimental treasures and a few items we didn’t see coming. Some will make perfect sense the second you read them. Others may have you thinking, Wait, that’s what you can’t live without?! And they will definitely all prompt you to consider of your own must-haves.

Read on to discover the nostalgic and wonderfully relatable things our readers can’t live without, along with the heartwarming stories that make them so special.

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All you need

My needle and thread. They’re two things, but one doesn’t work without the other. My hands are always busy creating: in my sewing room, in the car, on vacation, in waiting rooms. But the most special times with my needle and thread were in the evenings when my late husband and I would sit in our chairs and watch TV while I sewed. He was always the biggest fan of whatever I was working on. After he died, it took a while before I could pick up my needle and thread. I’m creating again, but tears come easy when I look at his chair, and I still hold up what I’m working on and turn to his chair to “show him.” —Steven Cook, Eagle River, Alaska 

Pencil pusher

As long as there are ideas and mistakes and I have the ability to change my mind, I need pencils with good erasers. I keep them in my workroom, my car and my crossword book, and by my bed. I use them to keep my changing calendar of dinner dates and my grandson’s baseball games, make to-do lists, jot down promises. A pencil allows me to be an imaginative, but fallible, human being. —Mirjam Spaar, Severna Park, Maryland 

Joe on the go

Many people say they can’t live without coffee, but I take it to the extreme. I carry a coffee maker with me wherever I travel. When I worked as a flight attendant, I spent many nights in hotels and couldn’t risk going without that morning cup. My fix—no pun intended—came from the smallest coffee­ maker that I could pack into my crew bag. It was a single-brew machine that worked magic every morning. —Amber Jensen-Veney, Blairsville, Georgia 

Drawing the line

I’ve worn heavy black eyeliner ever since I was a teenager. I was enthralled by characters on shows like Bewitched, Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie. My kids always told me to tone it down. I’d tell them I must have lived in Egypt in a past life. Once, I visited my daughter while wearing just a hint of eyeliner, sans my signature black wings. She didn’t even notice! Needless to say, I went right back to my winged eyeliner and haven’t looked back. —Linda Vassallo, Gorham, Maine 

The unforgettable moments

I couldn’t live without my memories. Glimpses of long-ago days in a totally different world from today—a simpler time with loved ones, friends and pets who are now long gone. Hopes, dreams, disappointments, childhood adventures. All that learning, living, loving. They’re all memories now, and I’m grateful to have them, even the bad ones. —Jan Wolf, Fort Pierce, Florida 

The missing piece

Before COVID-19, I hadn’t put together a jigsaw puzzle in years. But since, I’ve completed 169 of them, usually while watching TV, listening to audiobooks or participating in conference calls with the video off. I feel naked if there is not a puzzle in progress, or a new box on the table. —Pat Fridgen, Greencastle, Pennsylvania  

I hear that

More than 45 years ago, I told my (not-quite-yet) wife that I needed to bring two things into the marriage: my dog and my stereo. Those were deal-breakers. Bullet wasn’t a problem, since everyone loved him. My stereo, however, included two speakers the size of mini-fridges. Being so large, they can’t go just anywhere, but they did go everywhere I went. Today, our beloved Bullet is gone, but my wife and my speakers are both still in excellent condition and a consistent source of enjoyment … and I love them BOTH. —Ron Enners, Bolivia, North Carolina 

Michelin possible

On my fridge, you’ll find a weekly menu. (E.g., “Monday: Vegetable soup. Tuesday: Fish and rice.”) I started it to keep me on top of meal prep and scheduling when my kids began extracurriculars and I was working part time. I still write up a new one every Sunday, even though our kids have moved out. —Becky Bores, Monroeville, Ohio 

Picture perfect

As a photographer, I feel lost without a camera nearby, whether it’s a professional DSLR, a small point-and-shoot or even a phone camera. Photography is so much a part of me that on my wedding day, I slipped a small camera into my suit pocket, and at the end of the ceremony, I took a selfie of us and all our guests. The guests all knew about my passion, and uproarious laughter erupted when I pulled the camera out. The image I took remains one of my favorite photos of the wedding. —Michael Leonard, Yarmouth, Maine 

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