Lifestyle Medicine: Research-Based Secrets to Better Health

Lifestyle Medicine is your first and most formidable defence against disease. It puts you in the driver's seat and gives you control over your health and well-being journey. The roadmap involves evidence-based therapeutic lifestyle changes – TLC! And it includes plenty of self-care stops along the way.?

Imagine for a moment how your roadmap might look if you hung it on your wall. Do you have pins for the following destinations? L.I.F.E.S.T.Y.L.E. FIRST?

• Life's Purpose: a purpose-filled life that creates meaning
• Identity: a strong identity fuelled by daily positive affirmations
• Food: your personalised healthy, whole-food, plant-slant diet
• Exercise: daily activity that meets your unique requirements
• Sleep: natural sleep patterns that leave you refreshed
• Time Out: reflective time to focus on enjoying the moment
• Your Connections: building a robust social network that creates belonging, safety, security, engagement, and support
• Learning habits: habits and routines that help you reach your goals
• Emotions: managing responses to your natural emotional state to reduce the effects of life’s daily stresses
• First: Motivation and Mindset: the unique driving force that helps you to be the person you want to be?

Your Lifestyle Choices Make a Massive Impact?

Notice the connections? The pins on your roadmap give you personal power to improve your health.?

1. You determine your unique purpose in life
2. You control your self-talk (positive or negative affirmations)
3. You take a stand on the foods you eat or don’t eat
4. You decide how and when to move your body
5. You design your personalised sleep habits
6. You specify how and when to take time for yourself
7. You build your social support network
8. You create your unique habits and routines
9. You choose how to respond to your emotions
10. You commit to your personal drive to be the person you want to be?

That's why we call it lifestyle "choices," isn't it??I call it L.I.F.E.S.T.Y.L.E First?.?

That said, making a healthy choice isn't always easy. It takes knowledge, skill, and motivation.?

Acquiring the knowledge takes time and discernment. You've got to be able to understand what you're learning.??

Developing skills takes knowledge, time, and patience. Practice makes progress!?

And, as for staying motivated — well, that's the key. You'll have days when you're on top of the world and could do anything. But you'll also experience days when you need encouragement from others to keep your motivation levels high.

Take Your First Step Today?

Pick one destination above and stick a pin into your health journey roadmap.?

Maybe you'll decide to rework your sleep schedule or implement one or two effective strategies to help you get to sleep more quickly each night.?

Perhaps you believe you need a nutrition overhaul, or you want to begin cutting down on alcohol consumption.?

Maybe you need to build a better social support network.?

Whatever it is, you have the power to shape your future. You can live a lifestyle that will lead to longevity and allow you to spend more quality time with your loved ones.?

If you’re not sure which area in your lifestyle to focus your attention on, take the free Lifestyle Quotient (LQ) test to apply smart thinking to your lifestyle choices.?

And if you need encouragement, I'm here for you. That's my passion. I also have a validated motivation assessment tool to help you tap into your inner drivers for change. So, feel free to reach out to me here on LinkedIn ! And, by all means, subscribe to my newsletter for more tips to help guide you on your journey.?

Dr. Alka Patel is a thriving lifestyle medicine practitioner, longevity coach, speaker, podcaster, and media contributor. Her research-informed Lifestyle First? programmes provide the guidance you need to anchor your health through lifestyle choices — no pills required!?

Find out more today!?

https://dralkapatel.com/lifestyle-first/

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