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New York Today

New York Today: A Playlist for Commutes

Jamming your way to a better commute.Credit...Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Molly Horan and

Good morning on this feverish Thursday.

Spotify users have created more than 20 playlists for the sole purpose of getting through the New York City commute. From Drake, Kanye and Cardi B to easy listening melodies, like Bon Iver, Enya and Norah Jones — the songs you listen to on the way to and from work can affect your mood and overall well-being.

“Research in music psychology and cognition confirms what many people already know: Loud, fast music increases heart rate, breathing and blood pressure, while slower, quieter music has the opposite effect,” said Joy Calico, a professor of musicology at Vanderbilt University.

Tailoring your commute playlist to how your day is going could be a benefit. “If the workday has been exhausting and you are now trying to get up the energy to go to the gym, that’s one playlist,” Ms. Calico explained. “If you leave work furious with a co-worker and that anger is threatening to follow you home, that’s another.”

Nina Eidsheim, a professor of musicology at U.C.L.A., agreed. “If a commuter’s goal is to de-stress or to have a productive workday using music, I’d encourage them to think about what music puts them in which mood and to create their own highly personalized commuting playlist with that purpose in mind,” she told us.

Manjinder Bhatti, 23, who takes the Q69/Q19 bus from Jackson Heights to Astoria in Queens, matches his commuting playlist to the time of day. “In the morning I play hard rock to wake myself up, and in the evening I play R&B and rock,” he said.

So can listening to a podcast or audiobook have the same calming, or energizing, effect?

“Music lends itself to endless repeat in a different way” than podcasts or books on tape, Ms. Eidsheim said. “Sometimes listening to the same piece of music on repeat is exactly what is needed.”

Danny Suarez, 32, prefers listening to audiobooks during his 30-minute car commute from Whitestone to Astoria. “I listen to audiobooks just because I feel like that’s a better use of my time.”

Whatever you listen to on your commute, Ms. Eidsheim advises that you “observe the effect and adjust along the way.”

In other words, find the right beat and you might find a better commute.

Here’s what else is happening:

Today’s beat: Disco Inferno.

It’s gonna burn, baby, as the mercury jumps into the low 90s.

The heat is on until Friday evening, when our extra balmy temperatures and heat advisory end.

At least 49 people overdosed in New Haven in the past 24 hours on K2, a synthetic marijuana, possibly laced with fentanyl. [New York Times]

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Emergency personnel responded to least 49 overdoses in New Haven, Conn., many on New Haven Green.Credit...Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

Airbnb is hoping to rally support in Albany after previous failed attempts at convincing lawmakers to change state law surrounding the home-sharing service. [New York Times]

In her victory speech, Jahana Hayes, the newly minted Democratic nominee for Congress from Connecticut, recapped her campaign. [New York Times]

Lyric McHenry, the daughter of a well-known Hollywood filmmaker, was found dead lying on a Bronx overpass. [New York Times]

Norman Seabrook, the former leader of the New York City correction officers’ union, was found guilty of taking a bribe. [New York Times]

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This was the second trial for Norman Seabrook, who for two decades led the New York City correction officers’ union.Credit...Holly Pickett for The New York Times

In a jab at President Trump, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said America “was never that great.” [New York Times]

Do you think there are too many bars popping up in your neighborhood? A a coalition of neighborhood groups is beginning a campaign to limit new licenses. [New York Times]

The Los Angeles transit authority will be the first in the nation to screen passengers with body scanners. The devices have been tested here as well, leaving us wondering, could New York be next? [New York Times]

A community volunteer program in Queens is hoping to perform more wellness checks on older adults after a dead woman was not discovered for months. [am New York]

As part of the mayor’s proposal to close the Rikers Island jail facility, detention centers like Brooklyn Detention Center are being renovated to shoulder the prospect of additional inmates. [Bklyner]

Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Jack Dempsey’s Place

For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.

The annual Battery Dance Festival continues with outdoor performances at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park in Battery Park City. Times vary. [Free]

The Akie Bermiss Trio plays R&B, jazz, hip-hop and funk — alongside work by the artist Sam Keller — at Live at the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo. 6 p.m. [Free]

The Psychology of Magic,” a talk with the magicians Kent Axell and Eric Walton about the psychology of illusion, at the New-York Historical Society on the Upper West Side. 7 p.m. [$20]

Outdoor evening yoga: At Bryant Park, Morris-Jumel Mansion, Riverside Park South, Randalls Island Park and Pier 46 in Manhattan; Hunters Point South Park in Queens; and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Times vary. [Free]

Writers from “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” perform improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Hell’s Kitchen. 9:30 p.m. [$9]

Yankees host Rays, 1:05 p.m. (YES). Mets at Phillies, 4:05 p.m.

Alternate-side parking remains in effect until August 21.

For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

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Morning travelers inside Grand Central Terminal.Credit...Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

For those who prefer books to beats during your commute, Grand Central Reads may whet your literary appetite.

Until the end of August, you can download and read book excerpts about New York and by New York authors — for free — through Grand Central Reads.

Penguin Random House and the Metro-North Railroad launched the program this summer to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, a decision that saved Grand Central Terminal’s landmark status in 1978. The city was able to prevent the construction of an office tower above the transit hub, which would have drastically altered its original architecture.

[Read our front-page story about the landmark decision in the summer of 1978.]

If you’re one of the 750,000 daily passengers through Grand Central Terminal, select the recently improved “GrandCentral-FreeWiFi” network and then visit grandcentralreads.com to browse dozens of fiction and nonfiction options.

(Among them: “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins; “The Masterpiece” by Fiona Davis; and “Reading Jackie” by William Kuhn.)

Similar to music playlists, you can customize your book choice based on the length of your commute. When you open the website on your browser, simply click the clock icon at the top left of your screen to find 10-, 20- and 30-minute reads.

New York Today is a morning roundup that is published weekdays at 6 a.m. If you don’t get it in your inbox already, you can sign up to receive it by email here.

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Follow the New York Today columnists, Alexandra S. Levine and Jonathan Wolfe, on Twitter.

You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.

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