Wellness Wednesday Issue #187

📝 Help managers conduct fair, compliant interviews and make confident hiring decisions.

✨ Twenty wellness trends shaping how we’ll move, recover, and feel.

🧩 Why so many women get diagnosed with autism late.

📱 Turns out your phone has built-in tools to curb screen time.

Inside our Smart Girl Society, one of our members asked the community for advice on getting enough exercise when working long hours. The answers came flooding in, because apparently a lot of us are dealing with the same thing!

Whether you’re in a busy season at work, a busy season of life, or at a job with terrible work-life boundaries (and a job search already in progress), here’s how to get more movement in without overhauling everything:

Get It Done Before the Workday Starts

For a lot of people, this is the only thing that actually works. If you’re too exhausted at the end of the day and too distracted during it, early morning is your window. A 6am gym session or workout class means you’re done by 7am and it’s off your plate before the day even starts. It’s not for everyone, but if you’ve been struggling to fit it in any other time, this is worth trying.

Turn Calls Into Walks

If a meeting doesn’t require a screen, it can be done on foot. Phone calls, 1:1s, check-ins, casual catch-ups can turn into AirPods in, shoes on, out the door. A 30-minute call with your manager doubles as 30 minutes of movement without adding a single thing to your schedule. This is the lowest-effort swap on the list and the one that adds up fastest.

Block It on Your Calendar Like a Meeting

Movement that isn’t scheduled doesn’t happen, especially when you’re busy. Put a recurring 20-30 minute block on your calendar, treat it as a meeting you can’t move, and watch how much more often you actually do it. It doesn’t have to be a full workout. A walk counts. A quick gym run counts. Ten minutes of stretching at your desk counts. What matters is that it’s protected.

Actually Use Your Lunch Break

Twenty minutes of movement at lunch resets your nervous system and improves afternoon focus more than scrolling does. And if you need a mindset shift to make it happen: the work will be there when you get back. You deserve the 20 minutes. Give yourself actual permission to step away.

Get a Walking Pad

Multiple community members swore by this one. An under-desk walking pad lets you get steps in while you’re on calls, reading emails, or reviewing documents. It takes a few days to adjust (start slow, find a way to stabilize your mouse hand for balance), but once you’re used to it, it becomes one of the easiest ways to get movement in without breaking your workflow. If you can’t get a standing desk, a walking pad alone is a solid start (and you can put it near your TV so you can watch and walk). Consider joining a walking challenge. We’ve run them in Smart Girl Society and multiple members say the accountability is what finally got them moving consistently.

Stack It Onto Something You Already Do

Keep small weights under your desk and work your arms while reading long emails. Set a timer to get up every hour and do 3 minutes of movement: squats, calf raises, push-ups, jumping jacks, whatever gets your blood moving. Research shows short movement breaks throughout the day improve circulation, blood sugar, and focus more than one long session can compensate for. And if nothing else: put on a pump-up song and dance in your chair for 5 minutes. It all adds up.

Micro-Workouts Are Legitimate

Short workouts are a legitimate strategy. FitOn has free workouts from 10 minutes to an hour across yoga, pilates, and weights. MadFit and Fightmaster Yoga both have short sessions on YouTube. Calm has 10-minute light movement videos easy enough to do on a no-camera call. Nike Training Club is another free option. Start with 5 or 10 minutes and build from there; the momentum matters more than the duration when you’re getting back on track.

👉 Consider joining a walking challenge. We’ve run them in Smart Girl Society and multiple members say the accountability is what finally got them moving consistently. Simple’s 28-day walking challenge is a good place to start.

You’re not going to out-gym a 60-hour week. But you can keep moving through it, and that’s what actually matters when life gets busy.

If you’ve ever felt like you just need more dieting willpower, here’s the truth: cravings aren’t a discipline problem. Believe it or not, cravings start in your gut.

Scientists cracked the gut-GLP-1 connection and turned it into a probiotic called Metabolic Daily. It helps curb cravings and reduce appetite, without changing your diet overnight.

Users report:

• 91% reported fewer food cravings*
• 88% saw reduced sugar cravings*
• 72% felt less fatigue**

29,000+ medical professionals recommend Pendulum’s Metabolic Daily to their patients (that’s saying something).

👉 Try it today and get up to 48% off your first order.

P.S. You can use your HSA/FSA funds!

*based on a consumer survey of 274 participants using a product containing three strains found in Pendulum Metabolic Daily for 6 weeks.

**based on a consumer survey of 50 participants using a product containing three strains found in Pendulum Metabolic Daily for 8 weeks.

I’ve written to you twice now about where I’ve landed on freezing my eggs: first wrestling with the decision at 35, then mapping out my options after a breakup pushed the question back to the front burner. I’m closer than ever to actually doing it, and this week I found a workaround that changed the math entirely.

1. The out-of-country route isn’t new, but it’s under-discussed

A few friends have crossed into Tijuana for IVF and come back with genuinely good reviews: same protocols, board-certified doctors, a fraction of the price. Egg freezing in Mexico typically runs $3,500 to $5,500 total, compared to a U.S. national average of $12,000 to $20,000 per cycle once meds and monitoring are factored in. Clinics near the border, like the ones in Tijuana, are set up for exactly this kind of back-and-forth. Patients cross for monitoring appointments and come back for the retrieval itself.

2. Domestic affordability options are finally showing up too

It’s not just a Mexico story. Sesame just partnered with Costco and IVI RMA to offer fertility care for $99 to $119 a month, cutting the wait for a reproductive endocrinologist and slashing medication costs by up to 80%. It’s a sign the industry knows the price tag has been keeping people out. Worth checking before you assume you can’t afford this.

3. The hybrid model: diagnostics in-network, retrieval out of country

Here’s what actually moved the needle for me. I found a clinic with an Orange County office where you handle every pre-retrieval step: bloodwork, ultrasounds, monitoring appointments, all of it billable through insurance if the clinic is in-network. Then you cross to Tijuana for the retrieval itself.

The total for that hybrid path: around $7,500. My quote at a local LA clinic for the same cycle: $16,500. Same protocol, same monitoring standards, less than half the price.

I’ve never been someone who assumes the first option handed to me is the only one. That mindset has paid off for me with my healthcare before, and it’s paying off here. You don’t have to accept the sticker price a single clinic quotes you as the final word. It’s worth asking what else is out there before you write the check.

Thania (TA Content Mgr)

Your project tracker either works or it’s another tab you dread opening. Here’s what actually works, depending on how you work.

monday.com is for teams who want to see everything without learning new software. Drag-and-drop boards, 200+ integrations, and views that switch from Kanban to Gantt in one click. Best if you’re running marketing campaigns, client pipelines, or anything where non-technical people need to update their own status without pinging IT.

ClickUp is for the team that wants one app to replace five. Docs, chat, goals, and time tracking live inside the same tasks, and ClickUp Brain summarizes the thread so you don’t have to. Best for software and product teams juggling deep task hierarchies and sprints.

Quickbase is different: it’s not a task board, it’s a database you can actually build. Drag-and-drop app creation, real-time data pulled from every system you’re already using, and Pave, its new AI builder, turns a plain-language description into a working app. Best for ops-heavy teams tracking inventory, compliance, or anything spreadsheets outgrew years ago.

The right tool fits your workflow. The best demo in the industry doesn’t matter if onboarding kills you. Still torn? This full rundown deserves a scroll.

📧 Trusted by 1M+ readers, All Healthy covers nutrition, fitness, and the health news worth knowing in 5 minutes.

🌸 Our favorite no-show silicone covers are 30% off through 7/31.

🫧 This Wellness Bundle covers the whole back-to-school germ trifecta.

🛌 Spark by Hilton keeps hotel stays simple: a renovated room, fast check-in, points that count.

 Upcoming Events

• Fri 7/31 @ 8:30AM PT: Watch Me Work: Vibe Code a Portfolio in Real Time with Joanna (SGS Only* | Join the waitlist)
• Thu 8/6 @ 9AM PT: Harnessing Change Workshop with NextArrow
• Thu 8/13 @ 10AM PT: Your Voice, Not Theirs: The public speaking class for leaders (SGS Only* | Join the waitlist)

* Smart Girl Society is our private community for women who want deeper conversations, accountability, and tools that actually make life easier. Join the waitlist to get in the next round.

👩‍🍳 Recipe of the Week: Avocado Turkey Burgers (thanks to TA reader, Amber, for sharing!).

😋 Have a recipe you love? Share it here.

 Browse our job board here.

Have more feedback? 💌 Reply to this email and tell us.

✨ P.S. Want more inspiration and positivity to kick off your week? Sign up for our Motivational Monday texts (U.S. only).