Patients are Partners in Lifestyle Medicine

Lifestyle is closely associated with the pathogenesis of chronic diseases. Smoking may cause lung cancer, and a lifestyle of fast food consumption and little exercise can cause metabolic diseases. Lifestyle medicine is a medicine based on personal lifestyle, including factors like nutrition, exercise, and psychology. Patients are partners in the treatment rather than passive recipients. Physicians not only treat disease, but also promote good health.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine defines lifestyle medicine as “the use of lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of disease. Such interventions include diet (nutrition), exercise, stress management, smoking cessation, and a variety of other non-drug modalities.”

Lifestyle medicine is an entirely new branch of medicine that emphasizes the important linkages between clinical practice and positive lifestyle behaviors for patients. To solve medical problems, patient self-management is crucial. A patient’s involvement can lead to many changes to their daily life.

To solve medical problems, patients must control their lifestyles, but motivating them to do so can be difficult, so continuous education and information is required.

A healthy lifestyle is the foundation of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of diseases, in addition to health promotion.