Hi friends —
Thank you so much for agreeing to help out a little with our new wellness newsletter. As promised, this is one of the test versions of the women’s health + wellness digest we’re developing. You’ll see (TEST) in the subject line so you know it’s part of the preview batch and not the final product.
For now, we’re primarily looking for your honest reactions:
What you liked
What felt confusing or unnecessary
What sections would you want to read regularly
What would make it feel more useful or engaging
No need to overthink it — even a few quick insights go a long way. We’re trying to shape something that feels smart, trustworthy, warm, and helpful, and your feedback helps us get there.
Thank you for taking the time to give this your attention. We appreciate it so much! ❤️
🥕 WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE?
How Your Brain Can Change the Way Food Tastes
Here’s a fun plot twist from psychology: your brain has a lot more control over how your food tastes than your taste buds do.
Research published in The Conversation explains why two identical meals can taste totally different depending on your mood, expectations, and surroundings, and how you can use this to make your meals more satisfying without eating more.
🌿 Context flavors the flavor—Lighting, music, even the plating can heighten taste. Restaurants have known this forever, and science backs it.
😌 Stress dulls taste—If you have ever had a stressful day and thought, “Why does nothing taste good today?”—your brain was probably in “protect and survive” mode, which flattens flavor, especially sweetness. Hack: 5 slow breaths before your first bite. It resets your taste buds.
✨ Mindful bites = stronger flavor—Slowing down gives your brain time to activate the full sensory pathway. When you rush through a meal, your brain doesn’t have time to process the more layered flavors. Mindful, slower bites give your sensory pathways time to fire—boosting satisfaction and even helping you get full sooner (without eating more).
💡So what?
Taste and satisfaction play a huge role in avoiding over-snacking, emotional eating, and the “nothing tastes good anymore” rut. This research says you don’t need new recipes or strict diets, but rather better conditions around how you eat.
“This mind-food connection sits at the heart of gastrophysics, a field that studies how our senses, brain and mental states shape our eating experience. Once we know how this works, we can start using simple psychological shifts to make everyday meals taste richer, brighter and more satisfying, without changing a single ingredient.” —from The Conversation
💊 HORMONE NEWSROOM
A Postpartum Depression Pill That Works Fast
Postpartum depression (PPD) can be severe, yet fewer than half of the women who show signs of the illness are diagnosed, and even fewer receive any form of treatment. For decades, the options for treatment have been:
wait weeks for antidepressants to maybe kick in, or
tough it out while feeling completely underwater.
But a medication called zuranolone, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2023, has begun relieving PPD in thousands of women, helping some women feel better in a matter of days rather than months.
🌊 Why is this such a big deal?
This kind of help is desperately needed. For new mothers, the overall leading cause of death during the first year after childbirth is not bleeding or infection, according to one study encompassing 36 states. What kills more are mental health problems, which account for approximately 23 percent of maternal deaths in the country.
Postpartum depression isn’t just “baby blues.” After you give birth, your hormone levels shift dramatically, especially neurosteroids like allopregnanolone that help regulate mood, stress, and sleep. When those crash, your emotional floor can go with them.
Zuranolone provides your brain with a hormonal lifeline, quickly balancing the pathways to help you avoid the feeling of drowning.
Challenges do remain. The price tag for the two-week course of zuranolone is nearly $16,000, raising concerns about how insurance coverage and looming Medicaid-eligibility cuts could restrict access, especially because Medicaid covers about 40 percent of births in the U.S. And researchers are still trying to figure out why the pill doesn’t work for everyone.
😷 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Your Morning Coffee Is Doing More for You Than You Think
If coffee is one of your personality traits, good news, your daily cup (or four) might be helping your liver stay healthy.
Recent research shows that regular coffee drinkers tend to have:
Lower rates of liver diseases like fatty liver and chronic hepatitis
Healthier liver enzymes
Less fat buildup in the liver
Slower progression of fibrosis (aka scarring)
Potentially lower risk of liver cancer
What’s doing the good work here is not just the caffeine, but also coffee’s natural mix of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory plant compounds (like chlorogenic acids and polyphenols). These help the liver process fats more efficiently, calm inflammation, and support its natural “clean-up” and repair cycles. And yes — decaf counts, because the helpful compounds are still there even when most of the caffeine is removed.
☕ How to get the benefits
2-4 cups/day seems to be the sweet spot
Both caffeinated and decaf count
The benefits can disappear if it’s basically a milkshake—go easy on the syrups, heavy creamers, and extra sweeteners
If you have a liver condition, check with your clinician first (coffee helps, but it’s not a medical treatment
📺 WHAT TO WATCH
Why Your Workout Hits Different After 40 — and How to Fix It
If you’ve ever felt like your body just doesn’t respond to workouts the way it did in your 20s — same energy, same effort, yet different results — this video from Mel Robbins might be exactly the mental “reset” energy you didn’t know you needed.
In it, she and Dr. Stacy Sims, founder of We Are Not Small Men®, explain why many training plans are designed for younger bodies, and what type of training we need as we age. The goal isn’t necessarily to build a six-pack or run a marathon, but to build strength, resilience, mobility, and prevent injuries.
Why it matters:
As hormones shift, metabolism slows, and time becomes more limited, we need effective workouts that adapt to our changing bodies rather than fight against them.
Robbins’ advice strikes the perfect balance between “still strong” and “realistic for midlife.”
No crazy routines or hour-long gym sessions — just smart, sustainable movement.
🍎 APPLE OF THE DAY
Drink a Full Glass of Water Before Bed
Well, we’re all told that staying hydrated is essential for our health. But the question we often ask is “Why?” A 2025 study found that staying hydrated, especially in the evening, is linked to better sleep quality, which has many health benefits.
When you fall asleep properly hydrated, you’re less likely to toss and turn, wake up thirsty, or start the next day groggy. Also, hydration supports your body’s natural overnight recovery systems, everything from metabolism to hormone regulation, which means when you rise, your energy, focus, and even mood might be a little brighter.
What to try tonight
Before bed tonight — or better yet, 30 minutes before bedtime — pour yourself a medium glass of water (about 8 oz), and drink it down. No need to overthink it. No fancy formulas. Just hydration and good intentions. See how you feel tomorrow morning. If you sleep through the night and wake up more refreshed than usual, congratulations — you just added a simple but powerful habit to your wellness toolbox. Zzzzzzz.
🔎 Vital News
Exercise might protect your heart — especially if you’re a woman. An extensive new study found that women who met global exercise guidelines had a greater reduction in the risk of heart events than men, and needed only ~250 min/week for a 30% reduction.
Wellness influencers are pushing injectable peptides, but experts are concerned. Trendy peptide injections (for muscle, beauty, weight, longevity) are on the rise, but many aren’t approved or well studied, and some may carry serious risks.
Singing is one of the easiest ways to boost mood and immunity. New coverage argues that singing — especially with others — does more than make you feel good: it can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, boost immunity, and even improve lung & heart health. Caroling anyone?
A fat-derived hormone may explain why even a short workout can lift your mood. A new study found that when fat cells release a particular hormone during/after exercise, that signal travels to the brain and improves plasticity, which may underlie the mood boost many of us feel after even a short walk or workout. Great news if you’ve been feeling “blah” lately but can’t carve out hours to exercise.
Your butt plays a key role in your health. In a huge MRI-based study of more than 61,000 people, researchers found that the shape (not just size) of the gluteus maximus muscle — aka your butt — changes in ways linked to type 2 diabetes, frailty, and metabolic risk. For women, changes often reflect fat infiltration rather than shrinkage — a subtle but telling marker. Something to think about the next time you skip those squats.
Tai Chi continues to show up as a low-stress therapy for chronic conditions. Recent evidence reaffirms that gentle movement disciplines like Tai Chi — often overlooked in favor of cardio or HIIT — remain powerful tools for long-term well-being, especially when chronic pain or inflammation are involved. A call to remember: strength doesn’t always come from pushing hard.