What is Lifestyle Medicine

When I joined medical school in 1997, I studied “medicine”. We were taught anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology – how the body worked and what was happening when things went wrong and what drugs did to “fix us”.

Lifestyle medicine is a relatively new discipline desperately needed in these modern times and is very much about empowering individuals to take control of their own health in a more holistic whole-body way. While traditional medicine can be very helpful for treating acute injuries and certain illnesses, lifestyle medicine is essential to prevent and sometimes even reverse certain chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension as well as cardiovascular disease and autoimmune diseases.

The world health organisation reported in 2005 that 35 million deaths (61%) of all deaths were attributable to chronic disease and 80% of premature deaths were linked to an unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity and tobacco use. 80% of what I have seen in general practice has been due to lifestyle related conditions. Sometimes, no matter how many drugs you take to try and lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, if you are stressed beyond your limit, sat down all day, never sleeping and eating junk food, the drugs won’t work!

Our bodies have not evolved as fast as modern-day society and technology so modern medicine needs to evolve and we need to go back to our roots:

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” Hippocrates (considered to be the “father of modern medicine”)

Lifestyle medicine is the answer to today’s health crisis and can create a healthier, happier society. It focuses on 6 pillars:

·      Nutrition – a healthy whole food diet

·      Physical activity

·      Sleep

·      Stress reduction

·      Social connectedness

·      Avoidance of risky substances (drugs alcohol tobacco)

Lifestyle medicine is evidence based with scientifically backed research and is being successfully used to help prevent and reverse chronic disease and is growing in popularity even within the NHS where new group style consultations are being used. I have been involved in this for both patients with diabetes and women experiencing the perimenopause and menopause.

If you wish to prioritise your health and want to have more control over your wellbeing, book an appointment to find out how lifestyle medicine can help you.

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." Thomas Edison 1902.

‍