What is Lifestyle Medicine?
Lifestyle Medicine is a medical specialty within conventional Western Medicine that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to prevent, treat and even reverse chronic health conditions.
Following the identification of gaps in physician competence and confidence in prescribing lifestyle interventions, a group of representatives from various medical specialties developed a set of core competencies for physicians, outlined in the 2010 position paper “Physician Competencies for Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine” (Lianov and Johnson, JAMA 2010). These include specific knowledge, assessment and management skills in the area of Lifestyle Medicine, as well as the idea that physicians should lead the way by adopting good health behaviors themselves.
These core competencies have been further developed into a curriculum that includes a variety of evidence-based interventions in six main domains:
- physical activity
- healthy and balanced nutrition and obesity management
- avoidance of risky substances use (smoking, alcohol, drugs etc.)
- stress management
- healthy sleep
- positive social connection
The aim is to empower primary care physicians and healthcare providers with theoretical knowledge as well as practical tools which will enable them to implement these principles into their daily practice. In addition, it uses skills including motivational interviewing, health coaching and positive psychology amongst others, to assist patients with health behavior change.