BIO-HACK YOUR HEALTH: LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IS THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE

The great health challenges of the 21st century come from chronic diseases: diabetes/obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, autoimmune and mental health conditions. Lifestyle choices play a role in all these conditions, and Lifestyle medicine seeks to address these issues to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and society.

By Dr Neil Forrest, Family GP, MBChB (Leeds, UK), MRCGP (UK), Osler Health International

Current healthcare approaches do not adequately address chronic diseases. Most people have their condition detected at an advanced stage, and doctors offer expensive medicines and interventions to deal mainly with the complications that arise. But what if we could intervene earlier to prevent or even reverse the disease process, and what would this look like?

Lifestyle medicine aims to achieve this by focusing on six pillars:

• Nutritional health

• Mental wellbeing/managing stress

• Social connections and relationships

• Exercise

• Minimising harmful substances (like alcohol or smoking)

• Sleep

It might sound obvious, but with an evidence-informed, scientific approach, these pillars represent powerful tools in our fight against disease. They are much more potent at prolonging lifespan and healthspan (proportion of your life lived without disease/impairment) than any drugs currently available.

According to the American College of Lifestyle Med- icine, 80% of healthcare spending in the USA goes towards treating or managing health issues related to poor lifestyle choices. Many health issues, like heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and even mental health disorders can be remedied through preventative medicine. As a form of preventative medicine, lifestyle medicine seeks to prescribe behavior changes that reduce unhealthy behaviors and focus on the promotion of positive ones.

Changing the doctor-patient relationship

For this approach to be effective, a doctor needs to move away from their traditional role as an expert who simply imparts information. Years of experience have shown me that simple advice such as “exercise more” or “eat less” is not effective. A lifestyle medicine doctor plays the role of a coach, working in collaboration with their patient to determine their values, goals, motivations and harnessing these to enable lasting behavioural changes.

How does it work in practice?

We review your overall health and well-being against the six pillars with a comprehensive Lifestyle Assessment. Depending upon the results, we may recommend involvement from a muti-disciplinary team of professionals. The doctor and professionals work in tandem to review progress. This is one of the key differences – there’s a ‘programme’ in place. You’re not left on your own!

What types of disciplines are involved?

Nutritionists, trainers, psychologists, smoking cessation specialists, health coaches and more. We’ve steadily built up a network of excellent allied health professionals that we trust and collaborate with.

Who should consider a Lifestyle Assessment?

I recommend anyone to have a Lifestyle Assessment who:

• has reviewed the six pillars and has concerns about one or more;

• has chronic diseases and wants to better manage them;

• has a family history of chronic disease and wants help to reduce their own risk;

• wants to get generally healthier but needs clear guidance on how to enhance energy levels, mental clarity, immune function, and overall vitality;

• has tried and failed to make lifestyle changes; or

• feels they’re lacking motivation in taking steps to optimise their overall well-being.

Does lifestyle medicine mean abandoning treatments like drugs and surgery?

Definitely not! Pharmaceuticals still play a key role in the management and prevention of many diseases. Lifestyle medicine recognises this but aims to maximise optimisation of the ‘six pillars’ alongside other management strategies. We hope that this completely removes the need for medication in most people, but this is not always the case. Lifestyle interventions may prevent you from ever getting cancer for example, but if you were unlucky enough to have the disease, we’d want to use all tools available (drugs, surgery, and lifestyle changes), in your treatment. A great example of this is that some cancer therapies are more effective when used alongside certain nutrition interventions.

About The Company

The lifestyle medicine approach involves a multi-disciplinary team of allied health professionals and at Osler Health we work with a trusted network of nutritionists, trainers, psychologists, and coaches to get the best results for our patients. For a video explainer on our lifestyle medicine approach, click on the image to the left.

Osler Health International is a trusted international family GP clinic with ethics at its core. Known for our compassionate and professional service, Osler Health has built a reputation for excellent service and outstanding patient care. Osler Health is at the forefront of bringing lifestyle medicine to Singapore, is the only carbon-neutral primary healthcare provider in Singapore and delivers pro bono clinics to foreign domestic workers. We have 2 clinics, at Raffles Hotel Arcade and Star Vista. Visit www.osler-health.com.