What is Lifestyle Medicine?

A lot of people ask me "what is lifestyle medicine"?

For a long time we, as busy healthcare professionals, don't have the time to go in depth into lifestyle when managing chronic health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and obesity.

I help run our NHS diabetes clinic in the practice and for a long time have pondered how much more we could offer people if we had the time to discuss lifestyle with our patients. It is all too easy to prescribe medications and focus on all the numbers without personalising and tailoring our advice to the individual.

I have embarked on a learning journey with the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine to enhance my understanding of what it can bring to health prevention, treating diseases and wellbeing.

There is robust scientific evidence that teaches us the science behind lifestyle factors that matter the most for health and why.

There are 6 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

• 1. MENTAL WELLBEING

• 2. HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

• 3. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• 4. HEALTHY EATING

• 5. SLEEP

• 6. AVOIDANCE OF HARFUL SUBSTANCES & BEHAVIOURS

From this you can see that its not just "eat healthier and move more".

Over upcoming blogs I am going to explore each a little bit more.