Lifestyle medicine: The 'why', 'what' and 'how' of a developing discipline

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Changes in living conditions throughout history typically result in changes in the pattern of diseases. The modern post-industrial era has resulted in a shift from predominantly infectious to predominantly chronic diseases, or those with a significant lifestyle/environmental aetiology. This has led to the development of an adjunct discipline of lifestyle medicine. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to describe a basic structure for the discipline of lifestyle medicine as an introduction to other, more specific articles on the topic in this issue of Australian Journal of General Practice. DISCUSSION: There are currently four areas in which lifestyle medicine can add to the principles of conventional medicine. These are 1) the science (the epidemiology), 2) the art (the skills), 3) the materials (the tools) and 4) the procedures (the actions).