The six pillars of lifestyle medicine
American College of Lifestyle Medicine · The specialty's founding framework.
Lifestyle medicine is a recognized specialty, not a wellness category, and it rests on six pillars. What is striking about the list is how short it is, and how little it has changed as the evidence has accumulated. Nothing on it is novel or proprietary. All of it is difficult to do consistently, which is the actual problem and the reason having a physician and a plan makes a difference.
The six pillars
- 01Optimal nutrition
- 02Physical activity
- 03Restorative sleep
- 04Stress management
- 05Positive social connection
- 06Avoidance of risky substances
What this changes here
Our reading, not theirs.
Five of the six are topics here by name, and the sixth, avoiding risky substances, sits inside Medications & Supplements and the conversations that happen in an assessment. When a popular longevity claim is set beside this list, the question is usually not whether the new thing works but whether it would add anything on top of six things already known to.
The topics this bears on
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Where to go next
The other work we read