What Is Lifestyle Medicine? Implications for Nurses

If you’re interested in holistic nursing, you might be wondering, What is lifestyle medicine?This quickly growing specialty emphasizes the importance of everyday habits and their impact on long-term health. And while it’s a relatively new area, it’s gaining popularity for its cost-effectiveness and versatility.

Some of the most common and costly health problems — like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes — aren’t the result of a one-time infection, but of a combination of factors. These include genetics, social determinants, and chance, as well as choices that people make every day that accumulate over time. Small, repetitive decisions, like whether to take a walk or watch a show, can contribute to these long-term health problems.

Lifestyle medicine evolved from the philosophy that changes in habits can treat a broad range of illnesses. Unlike conventional Western medicine, the treatment methods in lifestyle medicine are not condition-specific, and one change can benefit the body in several ways. It also doesn’t rely on medications, surgery, and technology, and emphasizes prevention before treatment.

While it’s a newer area of medical study and treatment, lifestyle medicine has roots in ancient medicine. Hippocrates encouraged physicians to evaluate patients’ habits, the foods they ate, their exercise, and their sleep. In China, the philosopher Confucius also acknowledged the impact of diet, alcohol, meditation, and mindfulness on quality of life.

The Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

The six pillars are core areas of focus used to prevent, treat, and possibly even reverse chronic diseases through lifestyle interventions. Here’s a breakdown:

• Nutrition: A whole-food, plant-predominant diet that is nutrient-dense and minimizes processed foods, added sugars, and unhealthy fats.
• Exercise: Routine, purposeful physical activity helps support mental health and physical resiliency.
• Rest: Consistent, restorative sleep (between 7–9 hours per night) helps with mood, sociability, metabolism, and energy.
• Mental health: Avoiding excessive stress, recognizing negative stress responses, and using positive coping mechanisms.
• Substance: Avoiding alcohol, tobacco, opioids, and recreational drug use, which increase the risk of chronic diseases and death.
• Social: Nurturing relationships and positive social connections to benefit emotional, mental, and physical health.

Lifestyle Medicine: Examples of Care Plans

What is lifestyle medicine like in practice? Here are some care plan examples:

1. Kathy, a female patient, is post-menopausal and has just been diagnosed with osteopenia, or loss of bone density. Her lifestyle medicine nurse practitioner recommends the following:

• Eat foods high in phytoestrogens, including legumes, soy, and flaxseeds.
• Exercise to decrease body fat and promote healthy body composition.
• Learn stress management strategies to encourage good mental health.

2. Damon is a 40-year-old patient with borderline hypertension, a family history of heart disease, and high stress at work. His provider recommends these interventions:

• Adopt a DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).
• Participate in physical activity every other day, with a mix of cardio and strength training.
• Use daily relaxation techniques like a meditation or calming app.
• Engage in weekly social connections with friends and family.

Lifestyle Medicine FAQ

Is there a lifestyle medicine certification?

Yes. If you’re a healthcare professional, you can check out the following certification options:

• The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) offers certification for physicians and health professionals who hold a master’s or doctoral degree in a health-related field.
• The American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) also offers certification for master’s- or doctoral-prepared health professionals.

How can nurses get involved with lifestyle medicine?

Nurse practitioners, especially those trained as family nurse practitioners (FNPs), holistic NPs, and primary care NPs, are well-positioned to integrate lifestyle medicine into patient care and can become certified in this area. Additionally, some education programs now offer specialty training in lifestyle medicine, so look up these options in your area.

But you don’t have to be certified to integrate lifestyle principles in your practice. Nurses can promote lifestyle medicine by educating patients about nutrition, exercise, stress management, and sleep hygiene. Consider joining the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA), attending conferences, and taking continuing education courses.

What are the potential flaws of lifestyle medicine?

While lifestyle medicine is evidence-based and powerful, it isn’t a cure-all. Barriers such as health inequities, limited access to healthy foods or safe environments for exercise, and systemic healthcare constraints can limit its effectiveness. Additionally, not all patients are ready or able to make sustained lifestyle changes, and placing the burden solely on patients without addressing social determinants of health can be problematic.

Lifestyle medicine vs. functional medicine: What’s the difference?

While they share some values, the two specialties are distinct. Functional medicine typically emphasizes more supplements and lab testing than lifestyle medicine, which focuses primarily on habits.

Lifestyle medicine vs. integrative medicine: What’s the difference?

Unlike lifestyle medicine, integrative medicine includes complementary and alternative therapies such as acupuncture, yoga, and massage. The two approaches can be used as a holistic approach to care or as distinct treatment modalities.

What type of diagnosis is lifestyle medicine not a good fit for?

Lifestyle medicine is great for chronic disease prevention and management, but it is not helpful for acute, emergent, or genetic conditions that require immediate medical or surgical intervention. For example, trauma, appendicitis, or type 1 diabetes cannot be managed by lifestyle changes.

Promote Positive Change in a New Setting

Now that you can answer the question, What is lifestyle medicine?, you’re ready to educate patients in a variety of settings. If you’re curious about a new work lifestyle for yourself, learn about personalized job notifications that send great roles straight to your inbox.