beth-frated-md-lifestyle-medicine-teaching

Lifestyle Medicine: Intensity of Intervention Versus Intensity of Patient Response

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:15:01 GMT

Lifestyle medicine practitioners including physicians and all other healthcare professionals must be aware of the impact of intensity and dosing of prescriptions in the six pillars. There can be a high or low intensity intervention offered by the LM practitioner. Then, there is the intensity of change dictated by the patient and the patient’s response to the intervention. The patient’s responsiveness to change and the coordination of the intervention to match this level of readiness to change will help patients move forward in their lifestyle journeys to adopt and sustain routine exercise, nutritious and delicious eating patterns, sound sleep, positive social connections, stress resiliency practices, and avoiding risky substances. When high dose interventions are implemented or high intensity change is experienced by the patient, it is important to factor in the fact that patients taking medications like antihypertensives, and diabetes medications may need prescription adjustments to accommodate their bodies’ responses to the healthy lifestyle changes. Sharing detailed descriptions of lifestyle medicine interventions in the research, in CME presentations, and in conversations will help LM practitioners to gain a better understanding of the specialty’s impact as well as help it to realize its full potential.

Nutrition and behavior change: a review of recent literature

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:15:01 GMT

Purpose of review: The current article will highlight recent trends and novel approaches to behavior change strategies in nutrition. Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals play key roles in counseling patients on lifestyle change, which is critical for patients with chronic conditions. Nutrition science continues to advance, and new approaches to behavior change are needed for successful implementation at the individual and population level.

Recent findings: The solutions to obstacles around healthful eating patterns are varied, population-dependent, and require a multipronged approach. One area of focus is the language around behavior change, ensuring it is clear and emphasizes its multifactorial nature. For young adults, the careful use of video games and social media may be essential. For older adults, altering food consistency and ensuring proper nutrient intake are crucial factors. Vulnerable populations remain susceptible to malnutrition and need special attention. Despite significant advances in managing and treating diseases, there are still gaps in nutrition counseling and behavior change efforts.

Summary: Every age and stage of life needs a focus on healthful foods, and nutrition counseling at each stage has its unique nuances. Careful attention to the language of change and the phrasing used in counseling is vital for educating, connecting with, and empowering patients to change. Changing healthcare operations and provider behavior around nutrition counseling is a part of the solution to the worldwide problem of unhealthy eating patterns and practices.

WholeheartedMD: Medical Students Embracing Vulnerability and Finding Fulfillment

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:09:39 GMT

Medical Students experience high levels of stress throughout their four years. When the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, there was a need for programming and this created an opportunity to provide a whole person, lifestyle medicine approach to enhance medical student wellbeing. Methods. Two student leaders and one faculty member created a 12-week program that addressed the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine as well as positive psychology. The program was offered to all first year students, and within 12 hours the roster was full with 15 students. The program was held weekly by Zoom for 1-2 hours. Results. Attendance was high each week with full participation from everyone present. In the post program evaluation form, conducted one year after completion of the program, 100% of respondents reported they would recommend this group to another medical student, 71% reported they used tools learned from the group at least weekly. Participants noted that growth mindset, gratitude, mindfulness, priorities, and relationship building were the most used well-being strategies learned in the program. Conclusion. An intervention that is based on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine and positive psychology and presented by Zoom is feasible in medical school and well accepted by medical students.

Academic Lifestyle Medicine and Physician Education

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:06:32 GMT

The habits and practices that individuals adopt in their daily lives profoundly impact their quality of life and also their short and long-term health and risk of developing chronic disease. This is the fundamental basis of the rapidly emerging field of lifestyle medicine. Lifestyle medicine has begun to take its place in mainstream academic medicine but more needs to be done. Despite the fact that the benefits of regular physical activity, proper nutrition, weight management, avoidance of risky substances, and connection to other people are strongly supported in the academic literature, many mainstream physicians have been slow to embrace the overall concept. The reluctance to embrace the concept of lifestyle medicine may be the result of inadequate physician education in this overall field. The purpose of the current article is to provide an overview of the robust academic evidence supporting the fundamental principles of lifestyle medicine and offer advice for physicians about how to obtain additional education in this area. We particularly emphasize the need for medical schools and academic physicians to become more knowledgeable and offer instruction in lifestyle medicine.

The Time is Now For Lifestyle Medicine: Lesson From Lifestyle Medicine Leaders

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:05:31 GMT

The time is NOW for Lifestyle Medicine. In this review based on a presentation at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) 2021 annual conference, ACLM Current President Cate Collings, MD, Immediate Past-President Dexter Shurney, MD, and President Elect Beth Frates, MD, share insights on the current state of lifestyle medicine (LM). Interest in LM has greatly advanced in the face of disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanded educational opportunities in the field, and a rapidly changing healthcare landscape. With growing access to virtual care, advancing technologies, growing emphasis on home-based chronic care, continuing corporate healthcare mergers and acquisitions, and widening adoption of personalized, patient-empowered treatments, the time is ripe for LM interventions to move to the mainstream. As health investments and costs skyrocket, and new players enter the scene, traditional models of payments, reimbursements, and incentives are slowly being upended. Companies and healthcare systems are finally recognizing the scientific evidence and powerful but undervalued potential of LM to accelerate healthy outcomes while controlling costs. Taken together, the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth in LM educational opportunities, and the evolving “business of medicine landscape” signal that the time for lifestyle medicine is NOW.

Lifestyle as Medicine: The Case for a True Health Initiative

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:01:33 GMT

The power of lifestyle as medicine was perceived thousands of years ago. There is now consistent and compelling science to support the important influence of lifestyle on health. Approximately 80% of chronic disease and premature death could be prevented by not smoking, being physically active, and adhering to a healthful dietary pattern. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia, and cancer are all influenced by lifestyle choices. Despite the ample evidence about what behaviors promote health, confusion still prevails among the general population. This is particularly true with regard to diet. Confusing nutrition messages from scientists, the media, the food industry, and other sources have made it all but impossible for any single authority to convey persuasively the fundamentals of healthful eating. The case is made here that a global coalition of diverse experts has the power to do what no individual can: clarify and popularize an understanding of the fundamentals of a health-promoting, sustainable pattern of diet and lifestyle, and rally the general public to their consistent support.

Lifestyle Medicine Education and Pediatrics: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:00:03 GMT

Pediatricians ensure the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, focusing on preventing, diagnosing, and treating a wide range of illnesses, promoting healthy development, and providing guidance to parents on childcare practices. They play an essential role in educating families and addressing physical and mental health concems to help young people thrive. As acknowledged in multiple clinical practice guidelines, the implementation of lifestyle medicine is crucial to achieving this goal.

Lifestyle Medicine Pillars for Women's Heart Health

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:55:30 GMT

Lifestyle factors, including physical activity, dietary patterns, sleep, stress response, social connections, and use of risky substances, are increasingly recognized as predictors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cardiovascular health, with significant overlap between the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 guidelines and the 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine (LM). Assessing and addressing lifestyle factors have a foundational role in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and improving cardiovascular health. Sex and/or gender related factors can influence access, engagement, and adherence to guidelines around lifestyle and may lead to differential effects on cardiovascular risk and outcomes that are not well understood. This review summarizes the research on sex and gender factors that impact lifestyle medicine for women, including motivations and barriers to adopt LM recommendations, impact on cardiac risk factors and physiology, and interactions among LM pillars that influence women's cardiovascular risk and outcomes. Recognition of the reproductive age and perimenopausal predictors of higher cardiovascular and cardiometabolic risks can provide windows of opportunity to discuss lifestyle and primary prevention across the lifespan. While more research is needed, a deeper understanding of these sex and gender differences related to lifestyle and heart health for women has the potential to support earlier discussions and referrals when indicated to preventive cardiologists and LM certified clinicians, including physicians, dieticians, exercise physiologists, sleep specialists, social workers, behavioral therapists, and coaches. Alignment of LM education with women's symptoms, preferences, and goals may increase adherence to guidelines around physical activity, whole food plant predominant nutrition, sleep quality and quantity, stress management, social connections and avoidance of risky substances, leading to reduced cardiovascular risk and improved cardiovascular health and outcomes.

Planting the Seeds of Change: Growing Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups With the Donald A. Pegg Award

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:54:28 GMT

The practice of Lifestyle medicine (LM) focuses on helping patients make healthy choices to prevent and treat disease. While such interventions are considered first-line treatment for many diseases, many medical schools have not yet been able to include lifestyle medicine classes in the core curriculum but most are able to offer a parallel curriculum that does not interfere with the schedule of core classes. Lifestyle Medicine Interest Groups (LMIGs) are being created around the country and around the globe. Many students and faculty members are interested in starting and sustaining a LMIG at their schools, but some do not have enough funding or they lack the framework that provides structure to their efforts. To address this situation, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has encouraged the development of LMIGs, which are student-run organizations that provide a parallel curriculum in LM. To support and strengthen this effort, the ACLM initiated the Donald A. Pegg award to fund four allied health students in founding and augmenting their institution’s LMIGs.

The 2016 inaugural winners were James Gardner, P. Elainee Poling, Alyssa Abreu, and Jessie M. Hipple. Their LMIG activities have included events such as nutrition and cooking classes, exercise prescription seminars, group fitness sessions, and patient lifestyle counseling in various clinical settings. Pearls of wisdom for building successful LMIGs include cultivating strong faculty mentorship, marketing the personal benefits to students who attend activities, and collaborating with other student groups.

A Call to Action for Intermediate and Secondary School Lifestyle Medicine Education: Instating Healthy Teen Behaviors

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:52:08 GMT

Chronic diseases, previously thought to require decades of risk factors, have become increasingly prevalent in America’s youth. National Health Education Standards have been published since 1995, and yet nearly a fifth of schools fail to follow any state or national health education guidelines. Utilizing the phrase “lifestyle medicine” in childhood would elevate the importance and standardization of the core health guidelines. Several independent pilot programs taught by undergraduate and medical student volunteers have successfully demonstrated lifestyle medicine education models at intermediate and secondary schools. Preliminary feedback demonstrates that student interest in and consideration of behavioral change is possible within this age group. As with any life stage, significant behavior change in youth requires strategic planning of authentic learning practices and culturally competent lessons. We argue for the interdisciplinary development and implementation of community-engaged lifestyle medicine education for intermediate and secondary schools as a promising intervention to address and reverse the chronic disease trend in our youth.

Optimizing Lifestyle Medicine Health Care Delivery Through Enhanced Interdisciplinary Education

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:50:50 GMT

Objective: Regular physical activity can reduce the incidence and prevalence of many chronic diseases. A vast majority of Americans cite their physician as their primary source of information regarding healthy lifestyle decisions. This study was designed to obtain information about the personal exercise behavior and counseling practices of primary care physicians, to evaluate the relationship between their personal and professional exercise practices, and to determine whether physician specialty is associated with these practices.

Design: A cross-sectional survey was mailed to a randomly selected sample of primary care physicians in the United States. A questionnaire was used to obtain detailed information on the personal exercise habits, counseling practices, and barriers to counseling of these physicians, regarding both aerobic exercise and strength training.

Participants: 298 primary care physicians, comprising 84 family practitioners, 79 pediatricians, 58 geriatricians, and 77 internists.

Main outcome measures: Frequency of physician exercise, exercise counseling, and relationship between these practices.

Results: Physicians who perform aerobic exercise regularly are more likely to counsel their patients on the benefits of these exercises, as are physicians who perform strength training. Pediatricians and geriatricians counsel fewer patients about aerobic exercise than family practitioners and internists. Counseling regarding strength training is less common in all physician groups surveyed, and lowest among pediatricians, of whom 50% did not advise these exercises for any of their patients. Inadequate time was noted by 61% and inadequate knowledge and/or experience by 16% of respondents as the major barriers to counseling regarding aerobic exercise.

Conclusion: Physicians who exercise are more likely to counsel their patients to exercise. Inadequate time and knowledge/experience regarding exercise are the most common barriers to counseling identified. These findings suggest strategies that might increase physician exercise counseling behavior.

Personal exercise habits and counseling practices of primary care physicians: a national survey

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:46:18 GMT

Participants: 298 primary care physicians, comprising 84 family practitioners, 79 pediatricians, 58 geriatricians, and 77 internists.

Main outcome measures: Frequency of physician exercise, exercise counseling, and relationship between these practices.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Lifestyle Medicine Health Behavior Scale

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:45:10 GMT

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure health behavior across the six pillars of lifestyle medicine: sleep, social connectedness, physical activity, nutrition, substance use, and stress management. A pilot study (n = 94) investigated the construct, convergent, and content validity and reliability of the Lifestyle Medicine Health Behavior (LMHB) scale. Based on the pilot study results and literature, the scale was revised for further psychometric evaluation.

Methods. A sample (n = 399) of participants completed the LMHB scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess construct validity. Face validity was assessed using qualitative feedback. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.

Results. The final model included five latent dimensions and one observed to represent each of the distinct pillars in lifestyle medicine. The open-ended response item elicited preponderance of positive feedback (∼80%); the scale was perceived as easy to understand and complete. Overall, the scale was reliable (α = 0.84).

Conclusion. The LMHB scale assesses health behaviors across all six lifestyle medicine pillars, addressing each one systematically and individually. The scale had sufficient validity and reliability to measure health behaviors in this sample of adults. This is the first lifestyle medicine survey instrument to evaluate content, face, and construct validity and reliability.

Implementing Group-Based Lifestyle Medicine: The Role of the Healthcare Practitioner in Feasibility and Effectiveness

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:42:43 GMT

Group-based lifestyle medicine programs present a promising path to preventing and managing chronic diseases and supporting patient wellbeing. Establishing effective implementation strategies can enhance the scalability of comprehensive lifestyle medicine programs in practice. This convergent mixed methods study aimed to investigate the role of the program deliverer in the feasibility and effectiveness of a group-based program: PAVING the Path to Wellness. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were used to explore differences in perceived feasibility between physician and non-physician practitioners (e.g., allied health professionals) trained to deliver the program. Mixed linear models assessed differences in program effectiveness by type of healthcare practitioner (physician and non-physician practitioner) using the Lifestyle Medicine Health Behavior scale as a pre-/post-measure of self-reported health behaviors (nutrition, physical activity, sleep, social connection, stress, and avoidance of risky substances). Qualitative results supported that the PAVING program was feasible to implement, but that overall feasibility was greatly influenced by billing capabilities and practitioner experience. Quantitative results revealed that the program’s impact differed significantly based on the type of healthcare practitioner; participants in non-physician-led groups saw more improvement in health behaviors following the program. Data integration revealed that training and experience in lifestyle medicine and administrative infrastructure (e.g., billing, recruitment) are crucial to program effectiveness. This study has important implications for practice, including the need to scale practice-based training, promote policies for reimbursing preventive care, and build the administrative infrastructure required to support lifestyle medicine group visits.

Paving the Path to Wellness for Stroke Survivors: A Lifestyle Medicine Group Intervention

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:40:29 GMT

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of disability and the second-most leading cause of mortality. Stroke has both physical and psychological impact on the lives of stroke survivors. Lifestyle modifications have a pivotal role in post-stroke management care. The Paving the Path to Wellness Program (PPWP) is a 12-week program offered to stroke survivors at Spaulding Rehabilitation Center following discharge. The program encompasses the following domains: physical activity, nutrition, stress management, time-outs, energy, sleep, purpose, and social connections. Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the PPWP on the recovery of stroke survivors. Methods: Three stroke survivors who participated in the program were interviewed following completion of the program. Results: The results showed the PPWP had a positive impact on physical health (e.g., increased physical activity, weight loss, nutrition awareness, and better stress management); helped to create a new purpose (e.g., happiness, satisfaction, and well-being); and improved the social life of the participants (better awareness and importance of friends and family). Conclusions: Next steps are to study this program in a larger stroke population and examine long-term effects.

PAVING the Path to Wellness for Breast Cancer Survivors: Lifestyle Medicine Education and Group Interventions

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:38:41 GMT

There are over 3.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States. Key elements of breast cancer survivorship care include monitoring for disease recurrence, addressing medical and psychosocial consequences of treatment, and educating about lifestyle interventions which decrease risk of recurrence, improve quality of life, and improve outcome. We have developed the PAVING the Path to Wellness Program for Breast Cancer Survivors in order to provide education on evidence-based topics from lifestyle medicine, with the goal to help women adopt healthy habits and improve well-being after cancer treatment. The 12-week program includes all 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine, as well as positive psychology, gratitude, and goal setting work. The PAVING the Path to Wellness Program for Breast Cancer Survivors empowers breast cancer survivors with knowledge regarding evidence-based lifestyle recommendations and helps them achieve an improved sense of well-being following treatment. On completion of the program, participants specifically reported an improvement in attitude and well-being. Next steps involve developing a strategy to offer this program to a larger group of cancer survivors.

Incorporating Well-Being into Mentorship Meetings: A Case Demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Surgery

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:37:24 GMT

Surgeons have been under great pressure during the COVID pandemic. Their careers are filled with fast paced decisions, life and death situations, and long hours at work. The COVID pandemic created more tasks and even new responsibilities at times, but when the operating rooms were closed down, there was less work. The COVID experience invited the opportunity to rethink mentoring in the surgery department at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The leadership experimented with a new style of mentoring which involved a team approach. In addition, they tried something else that was new: adding a lifestyle medicine expert and wellness coach to the mentoring team. The program was tested on 13 early stage surgeons who found the experience to be beneficial, and they commented that they wished they had it even earlier in their careers. Including a non-surgeon who was a lifestyle medicine physician and wellness coach added an element of whole person health that was acceptable to the surgeons and even embraced as the majority of them elected to follow up with one on one coaching after the mentoring meeting. This team mentoring program with senior surgeons and a lifestyle medicine expert is one that can be explored by other departments and other hospitals given its success at the department of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Comprehensive Lifestyle Medicine Program Improves Fitness, Function, and Blood Pressure in Poststroke Veteran Cohort: A Pilot Study

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:35:50 GMT

Comprehensive lifestyle medicine programs have begun to show efficacy in patients with cerebrovascular disease. The Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system has a large poststroke population and VA rehabilitation departments have significant expertise and resources for promoting healthy lifestyles. A 12-week clinical lifestyle medicine program was therefore implemented for poststroke patients, along with an optional observational study evaluating cardiovascular fitness, function, body composition, vitals, and quality of life before and after the program. Seventeen of 18 clinical patients elected to participate in the study, and 3 later withdrew. The 14 participants improved VO2 max by 1.94 mL O2/min/kg (P = .001, 95% CI 0.96-2.90). Significant improvements were seen in estimated metabolic equivalents, exercise duration, 6-minute walk test, 30-second sit to stand, grip strength, and balance. Among patients who were hypertensive at baseline, mean decrease in supine systolic blood pressure (SBP) was -9.70 mm Hg (n = 10, P = .005, 95% CI -15.7 to -3.7) and standing SBP was -11.09 mm Hg (n = 11, P = .009, 95% CI -18.7 to -3.48). There were no significant improvements in laboratory measures or body composition. Participant satisfaction was high. These findings corroborate recent literature suggesting that lifestyle programs improve stroke recovery and reduce recurrence risk.

Incorporating Lifestyle Medicine Into Your Academic Institution and Hospital Setting: The Key is Connection

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:34:36 GMT

The key to spreading lifestyle medicine is connection: connection with colleagues, connection with research, connection with CME, connection with students, and connection with community.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is making it as easy as possible for you to introduce, develop, and incorporate lifestyle medicine programs in your academic institutions and hospital settings. One of the first opportunities to share is the free “Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine and Food is Medicine Essentials” CME/CE course bundle which provides 5.5 credits for physicians and health professionals. This Essentials bundle includes our “Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine,” “Food As Medicine: Nutrition for Prevention and Longevity,” and “Food As Medicine: Nutrition for Treatment and Risk Reduction” courses. By connecting with your colleagues and team members at your medical or healthcare professional schools and sharing this resource with them, you make friends and create opportunities to discuss the power of lifestyle and food and nutrition prescriptions. Sharing this resource in an email or as an announcement during Grand Rounds, division meetings, or presentations helps you to bring lifestyle medicine into the room and the conversation with your co-workers.

The Art and Science of Group Visits in Lifestyle Medicine

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:31:09 GMT

Lifestyle medicine group sessions present a promising approach to clinical care. Based on decades of work in shared medical appointments and group visits for diabetes and other chronic conditions, a lifestyle medicine group session has the potential to provide a fresh and rewarding way of interacting with patients that fuels the practitioner and feeds patients’ needs to spend time with the lifestyle medicine practitioner, connect with him or her, connect with others, learn the latest recommendations regarding healthy habits, practice these behaviors, and discuss their obstacles, motivations, and strategies for healthy living. The lifestyle medicine group session discussed in this article is a combination of group coaching, education, and group support.

Lifestyle medicine consulting walking meetings for sustained weight loss

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:22:10 GMT

With rates of obesity and diabetes rising worldwide, effective ways of managing weight are becoming more important. We present the case study of a middle-aged Caucasian-American woman (body mass index (BMI) 27.8, overweight category) who wanted to lose weight. The patient participated in a behaviour modification programme with a physician trained in lifestyle medicine as well as health and wellness coaching. After the 14-week programme, which included 9, 1 h long walking sessions with the clinician, the patient lost 11 Ibs (BMI 24.7, normal category). The programme included a combination of increasing physical activity, eating appropriate quantities of healthy foods, goal setting and a positive attitude. The patient has kept her BMI at or below 24.1 for over 2 years. This case demonstrates a novel approach to weight loss management—walking therapeutic sessions—and also outlines critical components of lifestyle medicine counselling that facilitate the process of sustainable weight loss and lasting change.

Case Series in Lifestyle Medicine

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:20:00 GMT

As the number of people living with chronic diseases climbs upward, novel methods to address the root causes of these disease are necessary to transform the state of our nation’s health and our health care system. Interventions directed at making lasting lifestyle changes can have a major impact on the overall health of patients. In this pilot study, 4 obese patients, with unhealthy habits and abnormal blood profiles and biometrics, were able to significantly improve their lifestyles and their lab values with the 3-month intervention of a lifestyle medicine team, including a physician trained in lifestyle medicine, a certified wellness coach, a licensed nutrition specialist, a physical therapist, and a licensed mental health professional. Two patients had type 2 diabetes, and all 4 were hypertensive (blood pressure > 120/80 mm Hg). After the intervention, all improved their nutrition and increased their physical activity. In addition, all experienced improvements in lipid counts, blood pressure, weight loss, and cholesterol. The diabetic patients’ levels of hemoglobin A1C dropped to normal. These successes show the benefits of a lifestyle medicine team approach.

Coaching for behavior change in physiatry

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:17:13 GMT

Behavior modification is vital to the prevention or amelioration of lifestyle-related disease. Health and wellness coaching is emerging as a powerful intervention to help patients initiate and maintain sustainable change that can be critical to physiatry practice. The coach approach delivers a patient-centered collaborative partnership to create an engaging and realistic individualized plan. The coaching process builds the psychologic skills needed to support lasting change, including mindfulness, self-awareness, self-motivation, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy. Preliminary studies indicate that health and wellness coaching is a useful and potentially important adjunct to usual care for managing hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cancer pain, cancer survival, asthma, weight loss, and increasing physical activity. Physiatrists can benefit from the insights of coaching to promote effective collaboration, negotiation, and motivation to encourage patients to take responsibility for their recovery and their future wellness by adopting healthy lifestyles.

The Evolution of Lifestyle Medicine Education: What, Why, How, Who, and What Now

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:15:40 GMT

Over the past 2 decades, lifestyle medicine education efforts have evolved. The requisite questions of what, why, how and who needed to be addressed for lifestyle medicine. The first question to answer was, “What is lifestyle medicine?” The next question was, “Why do people need lifestyle medicine?” After that came the question, “How do health care professionals practice lifestyle medicine?” Then there was the question of “Who can practice lifestyle medicine, and how do clinicians get paid to do lifestyle medicine?” And now the question is, what now?

Collaboration and Negotiation: The Key to Therapeutic Lifestyle Change

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:15:03 GMT

Counseling patients on behavior change is an important skill that traditional medical training does not emphasize. Most practitioners are trained in the expert approach to handle problems, which is useful in the acute care setting. However, in the case of chronic disease, a coach approach is more effective. This approach allows the patient to reflect on his or her own motivators for change as well as obstacles hindering the change. Changing from the expert approach to the coach approach is contingent on the lifestyle medicine practitioner sharing information when the patient is ready to receive it, listening mindfully, asking open-ended questions, treating problems as opportunities to learn and grow, and encouraging patients to take responsibility for their actions. By collaborating with the patient, the practitioner can guide patients to find solutions to the problems they are facing and foster an environment that leads patients to self-discovery, accepting responsibility for their behaviors, and ultimately, achieving goals that result in healthier daily habits. As a framework and a guide, lifestyle medicine practitioners can use a 5-step cycle of collaboration and a ladder of behavior change when working with patients on behavior change.

Restoring Well-Being for Physicians Through Lifestyle Medicine

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:56:38 GMT

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, physician burnout is a more relevant concern than ever. Pre-existing stressors in health care, such as poor work-life balance, perfectionism, and inadequate social support, have been exacerbated by uncertainty, increased risk exposure, and general anxiety. Burnout places not only physicians, but also patients, systems, and communities at risk. The promotion of physician well-being is critical to sustaining the health care system. Actions to reduce burnout and increase well-being can and should occur on multiple levels. Organizations and leaders must take steps to create a culture of support and respect for health care providers. Such steps may include improved time-off policies, destigmatizing the use of mental health services, and reducing administrative burden. Physician well-being may benefit from action on an individual level as well. The pillars of Lifestyle Medicine provide a framework for engaging in behaviors compatible with overall well-being, such as physical activity, social connection, and sleep. Lifestyle Medicine plays a key role in mitigating the impact of physician burnout, and will be essential to the success of the health care system moving forward.

Undergraduate Medical Education: Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum Implementation Standards

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:50:23 GMT

Lifestyle medicine (LM) is an emerging specialty that is gaining momentum and support from around the world. The American Medical Association passed a resolution to support incorporating LM curricula in medical schools in 2017. Since then, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Undergraduate Medical Education Task Force has created a framework for incorporating LM into medical school curricula. This article provides competencies for medical school LM curriculum implementation and illustrates how they relate to the Association of American Medical College’s Core Entrustable Professional Activities and the LM Certification Competencies from the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. Finally, standards are presented for how medical schools may receive certification for integrating LM into their curriculum and how medical students can work toward becoming board certified in LM through an educational pathway.

Lifestyle Medicine in Medical Education: Maximizing Impact

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:25:51 GMT

The relationship between lifestyle behaviors and common chronic conditions is well established. Lifestyle medicine (LM) interventions to modify health behaviors can dramatically improve the health of individuals and populations. There is an urgent need to meaningfully integrate LM into medical curricula horizontally across the medical domains and vertically in each year of school and training. Including LM content in medical and health professional curricula and training programs has been challenging. Barriers to LM integration include lack of awareness and prioritization of LM, limited time in the curricula, and too few LM-trained faculty to teach and role model the practice of LM.

This limits the ability of health care professionals to provide effective LM and precludes the wide-reaching benefits of LM from being fully realized. Early innovators developed novel tools and resources aligned with current evidence for introducing LM into didactic and experiential learning. This review aimed to examine the educational efforts in each LM pillar for undergraduate and graduate medical education. A PubMed-based literature review was undertaken using the following search terms: lifestyle medicine, education, medical school, residency, and healthcare professionals. We map the LM competencies to the core competency domains of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. We highlight opportunities to train faculty, residents, and students. Moreover, we identify available evidence-based resources. This article serves as a “call to action” to incorporate LM across the spectrum of medical education curricula and training.

A Web-Based Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum: Facilitating Education About Lifestyle Medicine, Behavioral Change, and Health Care Outcomes

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:15:41 GMT

Elizabeth Pegg Frates , Ryan C Xiao , Deepa Sannidhi , Yasamina McBride , Tracie McCargo , Theodore A Stern

Lifestyle medicine is the science and application of healthy lifestyles as interventions for the prevention and treatment of disease, and has gained significant momentum as a specialty in recent years. College is a critical time for maintenance and acquisition of healthy habits. Longer-term, more intensive web-based and in-person lifestyle medicine interventions can have a positive effect. Students who are exposed to components of lifestyle medicine in their education have improvements in their health behaviors. A semester-long undergraduate course focused on lifestyle medicine can be a useful intervention to help adopt and sustain healthy habits.