In our fast-paced lives, we often lose sight of the big picture. We can’t see the forest for the trees. We want fast, simple, and straightforward answers as well as useful and comfortable answers.
What if the “answer” is not fast, simple, convenient, or comfortable?
Years ago there was a public service announcement showing that a person’s brain was like scrambled eggs when they used illegal drugs. Now, what if your life is scrambled by poor diet, insufficient sleep, inadequate exercise, and stupefied by the pace of modern life? This situation is no simple thing, nor should you expect that a simple thing like a drug will correct the underlying problems.
There is some consideration that medication is only 25% of the answers for chronic issues like pain.
That’s why we need to treat patients and not their conditions. Traditional medicine, as embodied by medications and treatments, makes an admirable attempt to treat ailments, but for many patients, the more vital issues are lifestyle issues. That is why the concept of lifestyle medicine is a concept whose time has come.
Unfortunately, lifestyle medicine is not fast, simple, or convenient. Nor should it be. Behavioral change, the keystone of lifestyle medicine, requires special attention.
Comfort zones require elimination.
These factors and developing science is the foundation of Lifestyle Medicine. The complexities of lifestyle changes cannot fit into the busy clinical schedule of many professionals. But it is precisely those lifestyle changes that will make medical care cheaper, safer, faster, and more productive.
It is time for Lifestyle Medicine.