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What’s the secret to finding longevity as a woman?

Vail Health hosted a women’s wellness event for women over 40, sharing tips and resources for living healthy and happy

Dr. Paige Baker-Braxton, the director of outpatient behavioral services for Vail Heath Behavioral Health, speaks at a women's wellness event on Tuesday at The Westin in Avon. The event drew well over a hundred women to connect and learn.
Katie Harmon, Vail Health/Courtesy Photo

Over a hundred Vail Valley women gathered on Tuesday at The Westin Riverfront in Avon to embrace connection and gain insights on how to live a long, healthy and joyful life.

“The concept of longevity is exciting because it’s hopeful. I’m here tonight to tell you that we absolutely can age beautifully,” said Dr. Eliza Klearman, a functional medicine physician with Vail Health Behavioral Health. “Anti-aging is the ultimate preventative medicine. And I’m going to talk to you about how you can use your own self-care to prevent the scary things that we associate with old age.”

“Longevity is not just about living as old as possible. It’s about living as healthy as possible for as long as possible,” she added.



The inaugural Vail Health women’s wellness event was created to share health and wellness tips with women over 40. The sold-out event was met with such high demand, that the health care organization is now considering hosting a second event later this year for women as well as one focused on men’s health.

The event featured several of Vail Health’s entities including Colorado Mountain Medical, Vail Health Behavioral Health, Howards Head Sports Medicine, Shaw Cancer Center and Vail Health’s plastic surgery department — allowing opportunities for women to talk one-on-one with representatives — as well as three presentations on various elements of women’s health. Women also had an opportunity to create flower arrangements with Flower Hound, a shop based in Eagle.

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At Vail Health’s event on Tuesday, women were able to create custom flower arrangements with the help of Eagle-based Flower Hound.
Ali Longwell/Vail Daily

In addition to a presentation from Dr. Klearman, the group of women heard from Dr. Paige Baker-Braxton, the director of outpatient behavioral services for Vail Health Behavioral Health, and Dr. Laura Boyer, an OB/GYN and robotics surgeon with Colorado Mountain Medical.

“I really hope that tonight we can start changing the dialogue around what middle and late life looks like for women because it can really be full of joy and beauty,” Baker-Braxton said. “There is so much power and knowledge and wisdom in this room.”

The reality

In focusing specifically on women’s health, the local doctors shared statistics and information on what faces women as they age as well as disparities between men and women.

For example, within behavioral health, Baker-Braxton shared the following:

  • Women are 40% more likely to experience behavioral health concerns compared to men
  • Women are twice as likely to experience anxiety like obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety, panic disorder
  • Women are also twice as likely to experience depression
  • Women are also more likely to experience PTSD
  • Women make up 90% of disordered eating cases
  • While men are more likely to complete suicide, women are 1.5 times more likely to attempt it

Plus, she shared that depression rates for women are rising significantly — from 6% in 1990 to 25% in 2020.

“The problem isn’t getting better. It’s worsening,” Baker-Braxton said.

In discussing why, Baker-Braxton pointed to several culprits including hormones, lack of sleep, changes to women’s brains as they age, higher experiences of interpersonal violence, body image pressures on women, a priority on caring for others above themselves as well as a shrinking ability to handle stress as they age.

“Largely due to our hormones, as we age, our ability or threshold to handle stress shrinks,” she shared. “Things that we used to be able to cope with seem harder to cope with. Things we used to bounce back from, it’s harder to bounce back. It’s because our hormones are impacting our threshold and our capacity to deal with distress.”

In many areas of health care, there is also “limited information about women’s health,” Boyer said.

On Tuesday, Boyer sought to break this cycle by giving an educational presentation on menopause and perimenopause as well as the numerous and diverse treatment options available for both. Through her presentation, she sought to “empower (women) by giving you information about what treatment options are there and hopefully alleviating some fear and confusion that you might have about some of these treatments.”

Ultimately, her advice was for women to talk to their doctors, armed with this information, to make more informed and educated decisions around menopause and perimenopause.

Leaning into strength

Dr. Eliza Klearman, a functional medicine physician with Vail Health Behavioral Health, chats with a woman on Tuesday at the event in Avon. Klearman spoke to the crowd about the importance of fitness and nutrition in living a long, happy life.
Katie Harmon, Vail Health/Courtesy Photo

However, for all the disparities and health changes, the event focused on ways to lean into women’s strengths and increase their health as they age.

Baker-Braxton said there were two things in particular that women can “leverage to help support a healthy, happier life.”

The first is leaning into women’s natural inclination to connect, urging women to be “building relationships, seeking support from our friends, and using that advice,” she said.

The second strength is that “women have higher emotional intelligence than men, which is a huge asset,” Baker Braxton said. 

“We’re better able to identify our own emotions and recognize the emotions of others,” she said. “The problem is during that shrinking of the window of tolerance, it might be harder for us to access that. That’s when it’s critically important that we reach out to the providers that can help support us through that.”

Tips for longevity

Between the three presentations, the local practitioners shared a lot of advice on longevity. Specifically, they reiterated the importance of many things including sleep, hydration, nutrition, connection, exercise and prioritizing themselves and their health.

Dr. Melissa O’Meara, an internal medicine doctor with Colorado Mountain Medical, hosts a table at the Vail Health wellness event. Additional tables were hosted by Howard Head Sports Medicine, the Shaw Cancer Center and more.
Ali Longwell/Vail Daily

In her presentation, Klearman shared that these “lifestyle foundations … can make an enormous impact on your health and well-being right now and well into the future.”

Specifically, she honed in on nutrition and exercise. On the former, Klearman shared the importance of eating whole foods, consuming more protein and minding blood sugars.

“The human body requires food not to satisfy a growling stomach and certainly not to make us feel better emotionally, but because nutrition, food, provides us with the building blocks that we need in order to run our bodies,” she said.

On exercise, she dove into the importance of both cardio — and getting 150 minutes per week — and strength training exercises. Often overlooked, she emphasized that lifting weights is “essential to our health because more muscle in our body makes for a healthier body.”

For both, however, the most critical component is having fun.

“The key to a successful exercise program is just learning how to enjoy the process. So fitness is not about reaching an end goal. It’s about doing the work because you love yourself and you’re practicing self-care,” Klearman said.

In encouraging women to take advantage of their social networks and local resources, the event ultimately sent the message home that self-care — no matter its form — is the most important first step to longevity.

“We are constantly told to take care of others, but I am asking you to take care of yourselves,” Baker-Braxton shared.

“Self-love is disease prevention. It is anti-aging. We need to put ourselves first. This is not selfish. It actually allows us to take better care of the people that we care for,” Klearman added.


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