What is Lifestyle Medicine?
Lifestyle medicine uses evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches to prevent, treat and reverse lifestyle-related chronic conditions. Focusing on replacing unhealthy behaviors with positive ones, the lifestyle medicine approach is geared toward improving whole-person health.
Everyone is a good candidate for lifestyle medicine. The majority of adults in the United States have at least one lifestyle factor that could be improved in order to improve their overall health or assist in managing a chronic disease or condition. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine encourages lifestyle changes as the first and optimal whole-person treatment option for all people, getting to the root cause of much of the chronic disease epidemic. Lifestyle medicine may especially benefit patients who have been diagnosed with the following conditions:
- Pre-diabetes and diabetes
- Coronary artery disease
- Depression
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Metabolic syndrome
- Obesity
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Osteoarthritis
- Certain autoimmune disorders
Lifestyle medicine includes six pillars: a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet, regular physical activity, adequate sleep and rest, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and meaningful social connection. It's intended to complement traditional medical care, not replace any medical care you're already receiving or appointments you may have.
To determine whether or not lifestyle medicine is right for you, start by asking your health care provider. MyMichigan Health offers Pivio, a lifestyle medicine program that is held in a virtual group setting for 12 weeks at a time. You can learn more at an information session; sign up by visiting www.mymichigan.org/pivioinfosession.
Jennifer Felten, R.N., B.S.N., is the project manager for lifestyle medicine at MyMichigan Health.
