Lifestyle Medicine

Did you know maintaining a healthy lifestyle can prevent as much as 80% of chronic disease? What you eat, how often you exercise, the number of hours you sleep, the amount of stress you're under and your exposure to chemical substance—all these lifestyle factors impact your health.

Through a personalized approach that incorporates nutrition, fitness, sleep, stress reduction and decreasing environmental exposure, our Lifestyle Medicine Program will empower you to adopt healthier habits and live your best life.

How it Works

Whether you have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or are simply seeking to make important lifestyle changes, our program can help you realize optimal health and wellness through six areas of focus:

Food: More whole, plant-based foods, and less refined and processed foods, meat, dairy, and eggs.
Movement: Increasing daily physical activity to at least 30 minutes per day.
Sleep: Ensuring consistent quantity and quality sleep.
Mindfulness: Lowering stress and anxiety through healthy coping techniques like exercise, meditation or deep breathing.
Cessation: of tobacco products and excess alcohol intake.
Support: Providing guidance, encouragement and motivation for lasting success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is lifestyle medicine?

A: Lifestyle medicine looks to healthy lifestyle habits as the “medicine” to stop, reverse, cure, and prevent disease and illness. Through healthy nutrition, fitness, sleep, mindfulness, and reduction of chemical exposures, the body is allowed to heal and progress toward optimal health and wellness.

Q: How is lifestyle medicine different from conventional medicine?

A: Conventional medicine focuses on the care of sick people, striving to improve conditions through treating the symptoms of disease. Lifestyle medicine focuses on understanding the root cause of illness, which in this country is likely to be related to suboptimal lifestyle habits. Fixing illness at this level allows for true healing.

Q: Am I a good candidate for lifestyle medicine?

A: Lifestyle medicine is appropriate for those suffering from chronic health conditions like heart or vascular disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, or high blood pressure, and anyone else seeking to prevent illness or who desires optimal health and wellness.

Q: How can the program benefit me?

A: It is well known and documented that tobacco use, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity contribute to chronic illness and premature death. About half of all adults in the U.S. have at least one chronic condition, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The good news is, in many cases, these conditions can be prevented, delayed, controlled or even reversed by living a healthy lifestyle.

Q: Where do I begin?

A: You will be scheduled for an initial consultation with our Medical Director, Dr. Tyler Murphy, a board-certified internist with fellowship training in lifestyle medicine. During your first visit, you will receive a thorough evaluation. Dr. Murphy will then develop a detailed plan that includes realistic goals, actions and timing for making key lifestyle changes and achieving results. Follow-up visits will be scheduled to celebrate successes, problem solve and set new goals. Most patients should plan to meet with Dr. Murphy every two to eight weeks for several months. Additional nutrition, fitness, mindfulness, and health coaching resources may be recommended as needed.

Q: Does insurance cover lifestyle medicine?

A: Many insurance programs will cover a portion of the cost, such as physician services. While other non-physician services may not be covered, you may be able to use flex spending and/or health savings dollars to offset these costs. If you have questions about your coverage, please contact your insurance carrier.