Lifestyle medicine

Published on November 18th 2019

What is lifestyle medicine?

There is a rise in chronic diseases worldwide. This has a growing impact on our healthcare systems, impacting on the efficacy and efficiency of our health systems Common causative factors for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, are associated with lifestyle. For example what we eat, how active we are, stress levels and sleep.

Lifestyle medicine brings together the evidence for supporting patients with lifestyle and behavioural changes, alongside traditional medical treatment. It is a holistic and preventative approach, that can benefit both patients who are healthy and those who might suffer with chronic diseases.

The different aspects of lifestyle medicine include:

– physical activity

– nutrition

– stress

– relationships

– sleep

– substance misuses (eg alcohol, tobacco)

Lifestyle medicine helps to improve understanding of healthcare professionals of these aspects of health, in order to treat, prevent and reverse chronic diseases, alongside traditional medical training and practice. This in turn can support patients across this wide range of areas, in order to improve health outcomes.

For more information, please see the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine: https://bslm.org.uk/what-is-lifestyle-medicine/

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