Have you heard of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine?

I’ve recently come across this and its mission to equalise health in the UK and reduce the burden on the NHS. Lifestyle Medicine is a healthcare approach that emphasises the importance of our choices in our daily lives. It promotes healthy habits like regular exercise, balanced eating, stress control, and building strong relationships. By focusing on these areas, people can enhance their overall health and lower the chances of chronic diseases.

3 Principles of Lifestyle Medicine

These are to: Acknowledge The Need For Action On Socioeconomic Determinants Of Health, Provide Education on the 6 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine & to Support People To Make Sustainable Lifestyle Changes.

The idea is that Dr’s, researchers, government, scientists and teachers/educators work together to get the messages across so we can avoid chronic diseases. (Diabetes, arthritis, lung disease, heart disease, obesity, cancer etc).

All of us can act now to improve our health by following the 6 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine. None of these are designed to be followed on their own, the idea is that you should be doing all 6. However, as with all habits, start with one that you will be able to action and more importantly sustain. No point trying to make major changes to your life all in one go, start small and build from there.

6 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

  1. Mental Wellbeing

  2. Minimising Harmful Substances

  3. Healthy Relationships

  4. Healthy Eating

  5. Sleep

  6. Physical Activity

This is an overview, you can get more details direct from the BSLM website linked above. There are also links to my relevant previous blogs in the list above. This is something that I wholeheartedly support and will be writing more on the subject in the future so watch this space!