Here’s your five-minute health and wellness update for Wednesday, December 10, 2025: the most important women’s health stories of the day, simplified and clarified so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.

A new analysis found that how often someone eats cheese may correlate with future dementia risk. People who ate cheese more frequently showed a slightly reduced risk of dementia, possibly because fermented dairy is rich in brain-friendly nutrients.

But before we turn this into a Brie Subscription Lifestyle:

If cheese brings you joy? Great. Just pair it with veggies, fiber, and movement.

A big, nuanced conversation is happening in oncology right now, and The New York Times laid it out clearly this week: cancer diagnoses in adults under 50 have doubled since the early ’90s. But here’s the twist — for many of these cancers, death rates haven’t increased at all.

So what’s going on?

Doctors are worried we’re catching cancers that might never have caused harm — tiny thyroid tumors, slow-growing prostate cancers, low-risk kidney or small-intestine lesions that sit quietly for decades, never spreading and never causing symptoms. The rise in diagnoses may be less about an epidemic of cancer and more about an epidemic of better imaging and over-testing.

MRIs, CT scans, and ultrasounds are picking up “incidentalomas,” tiny abnormalities that look scary on a report but might never become dangerous. Some experts estimate that up to 90 percent of thyroid cancers discovered during periods of heavy screening were never going to cause illness.

You can’t tell, at the moment of diagnosis, whether your cancer is the harmless kind or the dangerous kind. This is why so many people — especially younger patients — end up facing aggressive treatments they may not have needed: surgery, radiation, chemo, ongoing surveillance…along with the emotional and financial fallout that comes with them.

Not all cancers fit the “overdiagnosis” pattern. The two that are concerning to doctors:

Both the diagnoses and death rates are going up in these two cancers, which means these ones do, in fact, require early detection, prevention strategies, and rapid treatment.

This is a reminder to stay engaged with your health and to be mindful about which tests you actually need.

Your goal is not to collect the most tests — your goal is to get the right tests. A thoughtful physician should help you figure out which screenings are beneficial for you, based on symptoms, risk factors, and family history — not what the imaging center happens to offer.

Heading into the holiday season with ambition, expectations, and a to-do list that might as well circle the globe? Same. But there’s a surprisingly smart and under-the-radar strategy for protecting your mental peace: it’s called “gray rocking.”

Think of it as self-protective buffering: when someone tries to stir drama or tension (family politics, guilt trips, “Why don’t you have kids yet?” questions, etc.), you respond with calm, neutral, minimal energy—no arguing. No over-sharing. No emotional fuel for their fire.

When done right, it helps you “stay boring” on purpose, which ironically becomes your superpower in high-drama holiday moments.

It’s useful when you can’t opt out of a gathering — maybe it’s a family event, work holiday party, or group get-together. The key is to have a mental fallback script, something like:

“Huh, interesting.”
“That’s one way to look at it.”
“Cool-I’ll think about that.”

Short, calm, no investment required. The goal is to avoid giving attention or emotion, and to be as dull as a gray rock.

Gray rocking is effective in the short term, but if you make it your default way of communicating, it can backfire. You don’t want to suppress your own feelings all the time because that can leave you emotionally numb. It can also strain long-term relationships if people feel you’re always checked out.

So, think of gray rocking as a holiday-season survival tool, not a daily communication strategy.

Holiday cheer can quickly turn into holiday stress. Gray-rocking isn’t a green light for being rude, but rather a way to protect your energy and peace when drama tries to find you. Use it when you need it, then show up for yourself afterward.

Norovirus — a.k.a. winter vomiting disease — is showing up early this year, with wastewater data from Stanford and Emory and fresh CDC numbers confirming a steady rise since mid-October. Hot spots right now are Louisiana, Michigan, and Indiana.

It spreads ridiculously easily through contaminated hands, food, surfaces, or that one shared snack bowl at a holiday party. Symptoms hit fast (within 12–48 hours) and include sudden vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, nausea, and sometimes a mild fever.

Hand sanitizer? Cute, but no. Norovirus laughs at it. You need soap + water, plus bleach-based cleaning if someone gets sick. Most people recover in 1–3 days, but hydration is key—take small sips of tepid water, add electrolytes, and get rest.

🎄 Holiday takeaway: Wash your hands, skip communal appetizers, and disinfect high-touch surfaces.

Most norovirus cases resolve on their own, but call your provider if you notice:

If symptoms look “normal” but feel wrong to you, your doctor would rather you call than wait.

The hormone episode every woman should listen to.

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi — board-certified OB/GYN, surgeon, and one of the most trusted voices in women’s health — joins Huberman Lab for a powerhouse conversation about the conditions most women struggle with silently: PCOS, endometriosis, perimenopause, infertility, breast cancer risk, and the hormone tests every woman should be asking for (but most of us were never told about).

✨ 3 Takeaways in 30 Seconds

1. PCOS & endometriosis are wildly underdiagnosed.
Symptoms like irregular cycles, pelvic pain, acne, bloating, hair loss, and fatigue aren’t “just stress.” They’re red flags worth investigating.

2. Hormone testing is your power move.
Dr. Aliabadi outlines exactly which labs to request so you’re not guessing in the dark, including estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, AMH, a thyroid panel, and metabolic markers.

3. Menopause care is shifting fast.
New research, FDA updates, and specialists like Aliabadi mean more evidence-based options for perimenopause symptoms, bone health, cardiovascular protection, and overall quality of life.