At its core, lifestyle medicine is holistic, characterized by an emphasis on the whole person in the prevention, treatment, and reversal of disease. Through such a lens, health behavior is seen as a confluence of several factors or dimensions, such as emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, financial, and of interest here, religion/spirituality (R/S), of which increase or decrease probability of healthy lifestyle adoption. This presentation first aims to summarize the decades of research that now support the positive relationship of R/S with physical health, mental health, morbidity, and mortality. Notably, religious service attendance has been found to be associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality, and can hold similar effect on all-cause mortality to those from other important preventative lifestyle prescriptions, including physical activity, tobacco smoking cessation, and consumption of fruits and vegetables. The research evidence is so strong and prevalent, in fact, there has been growing interest within lifestyle medicine to increase awareness and further discussion on how to better integrate R/S into lifestyle medicine practice. This presentation provides practical examples and research-based assessments to aid in the implementation of a faith-practice approach that is appropriate to specific needs and personal interests of each lifestyle medicine practitioner, spanning community to clinic, while also stimulating timely, positive discussion to guide the inclusion of R/S in practice and pillars of lifestyle medicine.
Learning Objectives:
Summarize the research on the relationship of R/S with physical health, mental health, morbidity, and mortality.
Integrate the faith-practice framework into clinical and/or community practice, including faith-placed and faith-based approaches.
Describe key practical skills to overcome the leading challenges of incorporating R/S into lifestyle medicine practice and prescriptions.
Stimulate positive discussion toward inclusion of R/S into the practice and pillars of lifestyle medicine.
