Wellness Wednesday Issue #197

❤️ Stress-fueled inflammation is tied to a 43% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

🤍 Caregiving running you ragged? Ask yourself four questions: hungry, angry, lonely, or tired?

🤐 55% of women say their job requires hiding how they really feel.

🩺 The biggest health cost jump since 2003 is headed for your paycheck in 2027.

Every October the pink shows up everywhere, and somewhere in the back of your mind is the appointment you’ve been meaning to make, or the letter about dense tissue you never followed up on. You don’t have to walk in knowing what you need, since that’s what the twenty minutes with your doctor are for. Here’s the sorting, already done.

Mammogram

Still the only screening method proven to catch breast cancer early enough to improve survival, and breast surgeons now call 3D mammography the preferred option. What matters most is whether yours is ordered as screening (routine, no symptoms) or diagnostic (a lump or an earlier finding). Same machine, different billing code. Federal guidelines say every two years from 40 to 74, while breast surgeons say every year from 40, so this one’s worth a conversation.

Dense breasts

Nearly half of women over 40 have dense tissue, which makes cancer harder to spot on a mammogram and raises your risk on its own. Whether to add more imaging is still unsettled, so ask what it means for you.

Ultrasound and MRI

Ultrasound takes a closer look at something a mammogram flagged or a lump you can feel. MRI is the most sensitive option and is reserved for high risk, like BRCA carriers or a lifetime risk of 20% or more. It finds more, including more things that turn out to be nothing.

Thermography isn’t a screening test

It has only been cleared by the FDA as an add-on to mammography, and warning letters have gone out to clinics marketing it as a replacement.

Genetic testing

BRCA mutations raise risk a lot but are rare, showing up in about 1 in 400 to 1 in 800 people. Ask about genetic counseling if a relative was diagnosed before 50, if there’s male breast, ovarian, or pancreatic cancer in your family, or if you have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Your dad’s side counts as much as your mom’s, and testing a relative who’s had cancer first tells your family more than testing you alone.

The insurance part

A screening mammogram at 40 and over costs you nothing. A diagnostic one has usually run through your deductible, often a few hundred dollars. That changed this year: ACA plans with 2026 plan years now cover the follow-up imaging that completes a screening at no cost, including self-funded employer plans, though not Medicare or grandfathered plans. More than 20 states go further, but those laws skip self-funded plans, so ask HR which kind you have.

Two myths to retire

A callback doesn’t mean cancer. Fewer than 1 in 10 women called back are found to have it. And no family history isn’t the same as no risk, since most women diagnosed have none.

Ask at your appointment

What’s my lifetime risk? Do I have dense breasts, and does that change your recommendation? Is this ordered as screening or diagnostic? Should I see a genetic counselor?

Go ahead and book it

In practice it’s a Tuesday morning, a parking garage, and twenty minutes. If you’ve been putting it off, this is your nudge. And if someone you love has been putting it off, forward this to her instead of asking whether she’s gone yet.

This is informational and not medical advice. Screening decisions depend on your personal risk, so talk to your doctor.

Projects, money, people, hiring, and marketing, all in the same week. Most leaders end up using whatever tool is cheapest or already installed, rarely the one built for the job in front of them.

ClickUp puts every task, doc, and deadline in one place instead of five apps, with an AI agent that flags what’s slipping before you go looking for it. Best if your projects live across six tabs and somebody’s inbox.

Xero reconciles bank transactions automatically for a real-time read on cash. Best if you tend to find out about a cash problem a month late.

Paychex runs payroll in as little as 30 seconds and files taxes across every state automatically. Best if you’re hiring across state lines.

BambooHR unifies hiring, onboarding, payroll, and performance, with an AI assistant handling the routine requests. Best if HR admin is eating your calendar.

Zoho Social schedules and reports across every platform from one dashboard. Best if marketing is your fifth job, not your first.

You don’t need all five on day one. Start with whichever one is stealing the most hours from your week right now.

I’ve had good bosses and I’ve had bad bosses, and your body knows the difference before your brain catches up. The bad ones live in your shoulders every Sunday night. The good ones? You’d run through a wall for them, and you can’t always pinpoint the moment that loyalty snuck up on you.

A truly good boss is rarer than we like to admit, and when you land one, it changes everything: your confidence, your growth, your whole relationship with work. But the good ones almost never hear it.

1. They actually care, and there’s no agenda behind it. They remember your kid’s recital, notice when you’ve gone quiet in a meeting, and would never use your personal life as leverage. You can feel performed care in your gut, and theirs is the real thing.
2. They tell you the truth, kindly and often. When you crush it, they say so that day. When you slip, you hear it right away and gently, while there’s still time to do something about it.
3. They make your work mean something. They tie what you do to where the whole company is going, so your to-do list feels like part of something bigger. That little bit of “why” is what makes you actually care.
4. They clear the path and then trust you to run. They go to bat for your tools, your budget, and your resources, then get out of your way. Nothing makes you rise like a boss who already assumes you will.
5. They grow you, and they hand you the credit. They push you past what you thought you were capable of, then say your name in the rooms you’re not in.
6. They protect your life outside of work. They tell you to log off and mean it, with no guilt trip and no “must be nice” when you come back from vacation rested.
7. They make it safe to be human. When something goes sideways, the first question is “what do we learn here?” You can walk in with bad news and walk out still feeling like yourself, and that kind of safety is the thing people stay for.
8. They lead from the heart. They pour their energy down into their team instead of up toward whoever they’re trying to impress, and they’ll still jump on the grunt work at crunch time, because it’s never occurred to them that they’re above it.

If one person came to mind again and again while you read this, tell them. Forward them this, and share it with your network too. Even the best bosses rarely know the full size of the mark they leave on us. And if you recognized yourself in this list instead? Keep going. The world needs so many more of you 💛

Thania (TA Content Mgr)

Boss’s Day is Friday, October 16, and if you’re the one organizing the card, you know how this goes: a paper card making its way desk to desk for a week, half the team working remote, and one person who never gets around to signing.

GroupTogether puts the whole card online. You send one link, and everyone signs from wherever they are with no account needed. There’s room for as many messages, photos, and GIFs as the team wants.

• Send it digitally on the day, or download a PDF to print
• Collect money for an eGift card in the same place (no more chasing people on Venmo)
• Used by 42,000+ companies

If someone came to mind while you read Thania’s list above, this is the easy way to tell them. Use code BOSS26 to make your card free.

👉 Start your free Boss’s Day card.

🎀 $22 gets you cozy pink ribbon slippers that support the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

🌿 Joanna’s daily staple includes scooping these collagen peptides into her coffee.

💇‍♀️ Ponytail feeling thinner? HairMax uses FDA-cleared lasers to help regrow hair at home.

🍵 Cameron’s daily ritual for hormonal skin support: a cup of spearmint tea.

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