International Women’s Day: three women helping women – and men – live healthier, happier, longer lives
- A clinical psychologist applied her mixed martial arts knowledge to her therapeutic approach which emphasises the mind-body connection
- A yogi set up free classes for domestic helpers in Hong Kong, while a women’s health centre director’s research has taught people how to look after their health
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. We celebrate International Women’s Day by speaking to three women, Kimberley Carder, May Nogoy and Suzanne Ho, who have done much to help women – and men – in Hong Kong lead healthier, happier lives.
She enjoys working with children and teenagers and, although her cage fighting days are behind her, she gets kudos (particularly from teenage clients) when they see photos of her in the ring.
Her whole-system approach means she works with a client in the context of their family, and she uses a mix of cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT (which focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes and behaviours) and psychodynamic tools to help her clients understand their thought processes and relationships.
“I start with a parent consultation, then I meet the child. The accounts are very different. I always ask the child, ‘What’s the conversation you want to have with your parents, but you don’t know how?’ And that becomes the focus,” says Carder.
Carder has seen an increase in high-risk behaviours, and says more time spent online and on social media has led to an increase in anxiety and body dysmorphia – having distorted thoughts about your appearance or an aspect of it – for many, particularly teenage girls.
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One of the few silver linings of Covid-19, she says, is that people now pay greater attention to their mental health. The pandemic has given people the chance to take things slow and to think about their behaviour patterns and what they want out of life.
“I really appreciate that people are paying good attention to their mental health. The more we talk about these things, the better it is for everyone. With young people, it’s about giving them the words to express themselves and be as honest as they can,” says Carder.
Nogoy, one of Hong Kong’s most experienced yoga instructors, brings women together in supportive communities. Born in the United States, Nogoy first came across yoga when she was studying art and design in San Francisco in 1996.
“It was hard to avoid, it was everywhere. I took my first class and loved it and very soon was doing three classes a day,” says Nogoy.
When the label dissolved, she returned to yoga and Bali, where she met Jason Budovitch. They married and the pair decamped to Hong Kong in 2010 when Nogoy was pregnant.
Nogoy meets many people through her work as a yoga teacher, and some of her greatest achievements in Hong Kong revolve around bringing women together.
“Now, the trend [according to] most people I speak to is to be outdoors in the beauty of nature in Hong Kong. [In 2015] it wasn’t so much,” says Nogoy.
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Ho, founding director of the Centre of Research and Promotion of Women’s Health at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), began her career looking at Hong Kong’s rapidly ageing population. Her research found that, although women tend to live longer than men, they seem to have more frailty and dependency related to functional and cognitive decline.
“I saw that with the baby boomers coming into midlife and going into the ageing population, to delay premature health decline it’s better to start at midlife,” Ho, who is from Hong Kong, says.
She and her team found that increasing physical activity among this population helps prevent the loss of muscle and bone mass and slow the onset of frailty.
“Physical activity, particularly weight-bearing physical activity, helps to stimulate bone cell regeneration. With the decline of female hormones, it is important to maintain a good lifestyle,” she says.
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“You need to stimulate bone mass, so it’s better not to be too thin or else you may not be able to stimulate bone cell regeneration,” she says.
Over the past 20 years, Ho’s research findings have moved from the academic realm to the practical. Now family doctors, social workers and others are empowered to advise women how to best look after their health.
“Another reason we focus on midlife women is because they are usually the health educator in the family. If they are aware of their own health, they will educate other family members,” says Ho.
A health-conscious retiree herself, Ho recommends that women be physically active, maintain a healthy diet and keep their body weight within the healthy range. She says she’s seen a shift in health consciousness among Hong Kong women in the last 20 years, which must be in part thanks to her work.
“When you talk to women – especially those approaching older age – they are very aware, they talk about their food and maintaining their overall health,” says Ho.
The pandemic and the challenges and uncertainty around it has made this a difficult period for many of us, yet never has there been a time when there is so much support – online and face-to-face – available to improve our lives and help us to become our best possible selves.
