Lifestyle medicine

A lot of research has been done over the years to try to understand what determines our health. Five main factors have been identified as shown in the image below.

Image credit: goinvo.com(external link)

This shows that the medical environment (including access to healthcare, quality of healthcare, health literacy and patient engagement) only accounts for 11% of health. The other 89% is due to other factors – the environment (7%), genetics (22%), social circumstances (24%) and individual behaviour (36%). Read more about each of these on GoInvo(external link).

We don’t have control over our genetics, and often don’t have much control over our environment or social circumstances but we can make changes to our lifestyle. These changes can have the biggest impact on our health.

What we can try to improve is:

• what we eat and drink
• how active we are
• how well we sleep
• our mood and state of mind
• our risk-related behaviour.

Improving these things is what makes up lifestyle medicine.

You can find plenty of lifestyle medicine information and suggestions throughout the Healthify Health A–Z topics. Information can generally be found in the sections called self-care.

For many conditions, the information is fairly general and that’s because most of the time, living a healthy life involves the same sorts of things regardless of the health condition. For example, if you have diabetes, you may be taking medicines to help manage your blood glucose levels, but the key words are ‘help to manage’.

There are other things you can do to help yourself which can have a big impact on how well controlled your diabetes will be. So being more active, eating a healthy diet and keeping at a healthy weight will all work together with your medicines to keep your glucose levels within a healthy range. 

For some health conditions more specific self-care can help. There are a few examples listed below. Click on the links to find out how you can look after yourself if you have one of these conditions.

• Asthma in adults 
• Atrial fibrillation 
• Chronic pain
• Crohn’s disease 
• Diabetes
• Migraine 
• Urinary tract infections in women
• Heart disease

Changing how you live, especially habits or choices that have become part of your daily pattern, can be challenging. However, there are things that can help you to make changes. Here are some ideas:

• Make a list of the things you would like to change and why.
• Talk to a friend or whānau member about what you want to change and ask them to support you and help you make a plan for how to change.
• Find a healthcare provider you get on well with and talk to them about wanting to make changes. It might be a doctor, nurse, counsellor, dietitian, pharmacist or physiotherapist for example.
• Ask them to help you set a goal for what you want to achieve. Make it a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound). Read more about how to set a goal.
• Get people to support you, it’s easier to exercise with a friend or to avoid a cigarette or alcohol if others around you aren’t smoking or drinking.

Find out more about goals and how to achieve them with Healthify’s Te Kete Haerenga Journey to Wellbeing booklet.

A Green Prescription (GRx) is a free service that includes resources, information and support for you and your whānau to become more physically active and eat healthily as part of a total health plan. It’s available through your doctor or nurse.

Once you have your green prescription you’ll be contacted by a trained support person who will get you going on a programme that suits you and your needs. It may include follow-up appointments for 12 months and, if it’s working for you, you can reapply for another green prescription.

In Aotearoa New Zealand green prescriptions are available in most parts of the motu for adults 18 years of age and over who would like to improve their lifestyle. There are also programmes for your whole whānau (Active Families) and if you’re pregnant, it's called a Maternal Green Prescription.

Read more about Green prescriptions for you or the Active Families programme for the whole whānau.