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- Hi, I'm Susan Taylor with Scripps Health
in San Diego, California.
Your muscles ache. You're overweight.
You might have some minor heart issues
like your blood pressure's a little high.
But rather than take a pill or undergo a procedure,
could changes in your lifestyle
actually fix what's ailing you?
Joining us to talk about lifestyle medicine
is Dr. Kosha Nathwani.
She's a family medicine doctor with the Scripps Clinic
Medical Group in Encinitas, California.
Doctor, thanks so much for being with us.
- Thank you for having me.
- So let's talk about, in a little bit more detail,
what is lifestyle medicine?
- So lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty
in which physicians use comprehensive lifestyle changes
in order to maintain and improve health outcomes.
They can also use these interventions
to help to prevent certain chronic diseases.
- And what chronic diseases would that be?
- So the chronic diseases that are most often treated
with lifestyle medicine are heart disease,
type-two diabetes, and obesity.
- So this is basically an investment in your future.
- Exactly, so lifestyle medicines and their team
use therapeutic lifestyle interventions
to specifically target some of those diseases
that we mentioned earlier.
And the key is really to make meaningful
and long-lasting changes that can benefit
all aspects of your health.
- So this is a coordinated, team-based approach
to healthcare, to treat, reverse,
and prevent chronic, lifestyle-related diseases.
Who actually is on this team?
- So the team consists of your lifestyle medicine physician,
dieticians, physical therapists,
mental health professionals, as well as social workers
to help to promote social community connections.
- Studies show that 60% of adults have a chronic condition,
40% of children have two or more chronic conditions.
What are these chronic conditions?
- So the chronic conditions are heart disease,
type-two diabetes, and obesity.
Those are the main ones that we do encounter
on a regular basis.
- So then how do you approach
dealing with someone's medical issues?
- So we use lifestyle medicine in order
to encourage patients to adopt a whole foods
plant-predominant diet, encouraging physical activity,
restorative sleep, stress management,
avoiding risky substances such as alcohol, tobacco,
and then also by promoting positive social connections.
- So when you talk about this plant-based diet,
give us some examples of what's in that.
- So a plant-based diet is centered around vegetables,
fruit, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.
And the goal of lifestyle medicine isn't just to teach you
about what a plant-based diet is.
It's more about teaching you ways
to incorporate it into your lifestyle.
So by learning easy, you know, minimal ingredient recipes,
sometimes teaching ways to meal prep,
what ingredients to avoid while cooking,
all of those things are part of lifestyle training.
- And a plant-based diet is also good
for the environment, is it not?
- That's right, so it can actually,
it does have a high potential
for reducing your carbon footprint.
- So what kind of chronic diseases
can this lifestyle medicine help?
- So using lifestyle modification, we can target diseases
such as high blood pressure, type-two diabetes, and obesity.
We can significantly reduce the risk
of also developing other chronic medical conditions
such as coronary artery disease
or heart disease and even arthritis.
- So does this have to do with inflammation in the body?
- Yeah, so all of those things that we talked about earlier
such as encouraging restorative sleep, reducing stress,
adopting a whole foods plant-based diet,
all of those things can help to reduce inflammation.
- And how quickly can you expect results?
- Well, the goal of lifestyle medicine
is really to make meaningful, sustainable change.
So although you may not see the results right away,
you will notice the benefits of adopting these methods
of lifestyle medicine that we discussed earlier
in all aspects of your life.
So not just in the management of chronic disease.
- So talk a little bit more about food as medicine
because you like that plant-based diet
but how do you deal with the issue of processed foods?
So let's say somebody is short on time
and they swing by that fast food restaurant
on the way home and they pick up dinner
and you know, hamburger and fries,
for them and their family.
How do you deal with all that?
- Yeah, so that's, you know, sometimes we think
that's the easiest way to do things.
But with lifestyle medicine, we can teach you
to make these small changes that can have big impact.
So things like meal prep, learning how to make
one-pan recipes, and then learning about easy ways
to prepare healthy food are all ways
that we can help you to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
- And then what about reducing stress?
- Of course, so we all seem to know
a little bit about stress.
And one of the goals is to manage stress
by changing how we react to stressful situations.
We're gonna encounter stressful situations.
So using techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing,
guided imagery, progressive relaxation.
Lifestyle physicians can develop these techniques
to help patients cope with their stress
- And the importance of exercise and sleep.
So how much do you need and how do you achieve that?
- So in terms of exercise,
the recommendations are to perform at least 150
to 300 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise.
So this can involve things like walking, running, jogging,
playing tennis, swimming, any activity that you enjoy.
Also, muscle-strengthening exercises are very important.
So ensuring that you exercise all muscle groups
at least two days a week.
Now, in terms of sleep, the American Academy
of Sleep Medicine recommends at least seven hours
of sleep a night.
Now, lifestyle medicine can teach you
to get restorative sleep.
So by minimizing technological distractions,
by avoiding caffeine after noon, just to name a few.
- And what about the importance of social connections?
- So an aspect of our health that I believe
we often took for granted prior to the pandemic
was the importance of positive social connections.
Research has shown that strong social connections
can improve subjective wellbeing,
encourage healthy behaviors,
and even lead to increased longevity.
- Are there instances where lifestyle medicine
does not necessarily work?
- Yeah, so there are certain cases
in which lifestyle medicine may not work.
And those include, for example,
if you have high blood pressure,
you can use some lifestyle interventions
to help to manage the blood pressure.
However, if you need surgery or open-heart surgery,
it's very important to check in with your cardiologist.
In the same respect, if you have a neurological condition,
it's very important to check in with your neurologist
about Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS.
There are certain conditions that lifestyle medicine
will not be able to treat.
- So when should you talk to your doctor about this?
- So if you've been diagnosed with any of those
chronic medical conditions that we discussed earlier,
such as high blood pressure, type-two diabetes, obesity,
that would be a great place to start.
Now, if you have an interest in learning more
about lifestyle medicine, how to adopt
some of these interventions that we discussed earlier,
you know, trying to reduce your stress,
curb your risky behaviors, then you can definitely
talk to your doctor more about lifestyle medicine also.
- Any final thoughts, Doctor?
- Yes, I just wanna finish off by saying,
you know, we're here to help you.
And we wanna make sure that we can improve
your quality of life now for decades to come.
We can impact all areas of your health,
especially with the chronic disease prevention.
- Doctor, thanks so much for being with us.
We appreciate you taking the time.
- Thank you.
- If you want more information on lifestyle medicine,
just click on the link or go to scripps.org/videos.
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At Scripps, we're here for good.
I'm Susan Taylor. Thanks for joining us.
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