What is Healthy Lifestyle Medicine?

Health, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

If achieving and maintaining optimal health is the goal, then Healthy Lifestyle is the most important way to get there. Choosing a Healthy Lifestyle is a conscious decision that affects mind, body and spirit thus leading to fulfilling life experience.

In my experience as a physician, how people make these choices is more nuanced and complex then it may intuitively appear. The devil is in the details. Though everyone wants to be healthy, barriers like socioeconomic factors, culture, education and accessibility play a major role in shaping a persons’ decision.

The first conversation around health often takes place in the shadow of a devastating or life-changing diagnosis. A patient just diagnosed with lung cancer may be counselled for smoking cessation but more than likely will not stop smoking. Stressful situations are not the best times for giving up maladaptive behaviours. Discussions about health and healing need not be reserved for doctor visits, clinics, or hospitals for them to be effective.

There needs to be a paradigm shift. Health education needs to be delivered to the people where they are most comfortable and receptive. I have found that anecdotal experiences shared among people in a relatable and repetitive manner are often more effective than information delivered in scientific jargon. Enhanced health literacy is required to allow people to navigate this daunting landscape.

In my opinion, the story of health begins even before birth. An unborn child’s physical, mental and emotional well-being is directly related to the enrolment during pregnancy and birth. Likewise, in the most formidable years of early childhood, relationship with one’s own self is constructed in the reflection of family, community, love, faith and spirituality. All humans need these building blocks to nurture their love for self.

I am convinced that in addition to prescribing medications if we start prescribing healthy lifestyle, we will bridge the gaps that exist in achieving optimum health.

Improvement in life expectancy alone cannot be the goal, this must translate into an improvement in the quality of life. It is important to bring this conversation to the forefront of the collective dialogue and empower people to use their lifestyle for the restoration and propagation of health.