These women use true crime podcasts to lull themselves to sleep—experts explain why it works | How I Fell in Love With Turning 50: A Writer’s Perspective on Midlife | Large parts of Asia are getting old before they get rich | Babysitting duties are stressing China’s grandparents

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� � � � � � These women use true crime podcasts to lull themselves to sleep—experts explain why it works - CNBC    Shanda Gimson's bedtime routine starts out pretty ordinarily: She turns off the lights and gets comfortable in bed. But before shutting her eyes, she picks up her phone and presses play on her favorite true crime podcast. Soon enough, she knows, she'll be fast sleep. "My friends think I'm crazy. They don't understand how I could fall asleep listening to a true crime podcast," Gimson, 31, tells CNBC Make It. And Gimson is not alone. Spend some time on TikTok, and you'll find that many women prefer to doze off to stories about stalking, kidnapping and murder. Continued here � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium How I Fell in Love With Turning 50: A Writer's Perspective on Midlife - The New York Times    Turning 50 isn’t the end of youth or the start of old age. It’s a perch with a stable foundation and a great view. “You’ll have to use your imagination,” our real estate agent said as she unlocked the front door of a mint green, vinyl-sided house on a quiet street in northern New Jersey. The first floor was an explosion of shag carpet and paisley wallpaper lit with freezer-aisle fluorescence. Bathroom fixtures and kitchen cabinets were held together with duct tape. Two bedrooms had asbestos tile flooring. There were puddles in the basement and wires poking from walls. The draft from the windows was strong enough to sway a ponytail. Continued here � � � � � � Large parts of Asia are getting old before they get rich - The Economist    A bulge in a country’s working-age population is a blessing. Lots of workers support relatively few children and retired people. So long as the labour market can absorb a surge of job-seekers, output per head will rise. That can boost savings and investment, leading to higher economic growth, more productivity gains and developmental lift-off. Yet for countries that fail to seize this opportunity, the results can be grim—as many developing countries may soon discover. Consider Thailand. It is rapidly greying. In 2021 the share of Thais aged 65 or over hit 14%, a threshold that is often used to define an aged society. Soon Thailand will, like Japan, South Korea and most Western countries, see a dwindling supply of workers and, without extraordinary measures, flagging productivity and growth. Yet unlike Japan and the rest, Thailand, with a GDP per person of just $7,000 in 2021, is not a developed country. It has got old before it has got rich. When Japan had a similar portion of oldies, it was roughly five times richer than Thailand is today. This is a big obstacle to Thailand’s future development. To protect its ageing citizens, many of whom are poor, Thailand’s government will have to spend more on health care and pensions. This will make it harder to invest in productivity-boosting skills and infrastructure. And where Thailand goes, many developing countries will follow. In Asia, where the problem is most advanced, Indonesia and the Philippines are also likely to become aged societies at lower income levels than was the case in the rich world. Sri Lanka, where the average income is a third lower than Thailand’s, will become aged by 2028. Continued here � � � � � � Babysitting duties are stressing China's grandparents - The Economist    Traditionally, doting Chinese grannies look after their grandchildren free. So when a grandmother in the south-western province of Sichuan sued her daughter and son-in-law for unpaid child-care fees, it caused a stir on social media. The grandmother, who is surnamed Duan, had looked after her grandson for five years while his parents worked in another city. She wanted compensation. In September, a local judge found in her favour. The boy’s parents were ordered to pay her 82,500 yuan ($11,300). Ms Duan is not the only Chinese grandparent to think they are getting a rough deal. In state media, reports of similar lawsuits have become more common in recent years. They suggest China’s grandparents are growing sick of being treated as free childminders. In 2021 a grandfather in another part of Sichuan was given 100,000 yuan in child-care fees, with the judge scolding the child’s mother and father for kenlao, or “gnawing on the elderly”. The term is used to describe taking advantage of one’s parents. China’s grandparents have always helped out with child care. But there used to be an easy alternative. Under Mao Zedong, state-owned nurseries were set up, providing cheap care for many of China’s children, to encourage mothers to work in farms and factories. Many were shut down during economic reforms that began in 1978, two years after Mao’s death. Those that remain are few, often expensive, and usually open only to children over the age of three. Nannies, meanwhile, are often distrusted, after scandals involving mistreatment of their charges. Continued here

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