Lifestyle medicine is an approach to medicine that has been around for just as long as conventional medicine but has only recently risen in popularity. It consists of 6 “pillars” that each have a different focus and together allow patients to replace current habits with healthy behaviors, causing a positive change in lifestyle. The goal of lifestyle medicine is to help treat patients that are suffering from chronic lifestyle-related conditions through preventing or even reversing the condition through evidence-based lifestyle changes that aim to improve overall health as well.

A doctor that has specialized in lifestyle medicine will use interventions of the lifestyle (through diet, level of physical activity, avoiding unhealthy habits, etc.) to treat chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, or cardiovascular diseases. Typically, lifestyle medicine doctors actually consist of a team of doctors that work together to treat each patients and the doctors may include dieticians, physical therapists, mental health practitioners, and any other medical professional who would be considered helpful for each specific case.

The 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine include:

• Nutrition – primarily consisting of plant-based foods to fuel your body in a healthy and efficient manner.
• Exercise – daily exercise regimens that are approachable and sustainable for the patient to allow them to continue long-term.
• Stress management – learning methods to reduce stress levels and tension to help maintain a lower blood pressure level.
• Risky substances – the avoidance or elimination of risky substances including alcohol, tobacco, or anything potentially addictive to improve overall health and mood.
• Sleep – a focus on the quality of sleep the patient is getting as a means to prevent reduced immunity or other potential health concerns.
• Relationships – feeling socially connected to others is vital for emotional health, as those with stronger relationships have proven to have more success in maintaining healthy changes in lifestyle with through that social support.

The goal of all of these pillars working together is to improve the overall health of the patient in every aspect of their lives, rather than focusing on addressing each problem individually. Each one of these pillars can have a significant impact on our physical and mental health, and can be the reason we succeed or not in treatments. The team of doctors that are available for lifestyle medical treatments will ensure that each one of these pillars is handled by a specialist relevant to that field while also working alongside the other healthcare professionals to ensure that the treatment is cohesive and as effective as possible.

Lifestyle medicine is primarily used to treat patients that are suffering from chronic conditions that may be heavily influenced due to their previous lifestyle choices. We all know that doctors recommend eating healthily, exercising regularly, and to try our best to sleep for more than 6 hours a night, but we often don’t realize how much actually consistently doing all of those things, as well as implementing a few other behavioral or lifestyle changes can drastically affect how we feel day to day. Lifestyle medicine is intended to show patients how to take proper care of their body and mind and how significant the impact can be when you feel energized from a proper diet, enough sleep, and being physically capable of executing day to day activities. Using risky substances, isolating ourselves, and having no healthy way to cope with stress or tension all eventually take their toll on our lives, and lifestyle medicine forces patients to hit a hard reset and learn self-awareness to ensure that their body and mind is being treated with love and respect.

Here at Cape Fear Physical Medicine and Rehab, we are happy to share that we accept over a dozen insurance companies, including all of the major and most commonly used insurance. Call our office today to learn if your insurance is able to cover our weight-loss clinic services. We serve patients from Fayetteville NC, Hope Mills NC, Cedar Creek NC, Eastover NC, Woodfield NC, and Fenix NC.