How can doctors support their patients in living healthy lifestyles?
Brandee Waite, MD, is the Director of UC Davis Health Sports Medicine and Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She advocates for the inclusion of preventive care and lifestyle medicine in medical schools and clinical scope of practice.
Though not all illnesses can be prevented, research in recent years has found that lifestyle elements such as nutrition, exercise, and social connection reduce the risks of illness and death associated with chronic disease. The crucial next step is providing patients with access to the knowledge and support needed to implement these lifestyle changes. Health practitioners and healthcare systems should be able to provide this, she says, as “there’s great evidence that they can improve people’s lives, reduce their disease burden before they become diseased, reverse disease once it comes on and really give people healthier, longer lives.”