A Prescription for Healthy Living

Book excerpt: A Prescription for Healthy Living: A Guide to Lifestyle Medicine takes an evidence-based approach to health promotion and disease prevention. Medical doctors, healthcare professionals and research scientists from a variety of backgrounds provide informed advice on how to encourage patients to take charge of their health and future. This book addresses the impact that socioeconomic and environmental factors have on the health of a population and explores the psychology of health-related behavioral change, as well as considering a variety of subject areas as diverse as nutrition, physical activity, the practice of gratitude, the adverse health impacts of loneliness and the importance of achieving a satisfactory work-life balance.A Prescription for Healthy Living aims to encourage and inspire healthcare practitioners and public health officials to empower patients to make simple behavioral changes that will have a large and positive effect on their physical and mental wellbeing.