Throughout human history, we relied on what is naturally available to promote health and healing. Long before modern medicine, people intuitively understood the power of a healthy lifestyle to prevent disease and support recovery.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the revolutionary progress of biochemistry, pharmacology and virology inaugurated a new era. With this, it is increasingly emphasized on the treatment of the disease with drugs and procedures. Although this approach has saved countless lives, it has also reduced the role of a healthy life in the support of long-term well-being.
Over the past decade, there has been a renewed interest in lifestyle medicine, not only among patients but also among health professionals and heads of attention.1 While the rates of chronic diseases, professional exhaustion and absenteeism linked to health continue to climb, it is more and more recognized that a healthy lifestyle is not only a good thing to have – it is fundamental for better results.
The challenge is now integration: how to provide lifestyle interventions based on evidence in health care provision and the design of social benefits in a significant and measurable way? Medical insurance companies are also impatient to know where and how to invest in effective lifestyle treatments at a lower cost.
For employers, three main pillars of lifestyle medicine are distinguished as areas with high impact: Food as medicine, movement like medicine and friends as medicine.
Each of these areas is supported by emerging science which validates what humans have known for generations: what we eat, how we move and the relationships we feed are powerful determinants of health. Innovative suppliers enter the market to provide structured support – nutritional coaching and medically tailor -made meals to programs and fitness interventions based on prescriptions to combat solitude and isolation.
For HR and benefits leaders, the opportunity is twofold: first, to explore the offers focused on lifestyle align with the needs and objectives of their population; Second, to determine how these offers can be measured, integrated and ladder parallel to their existing programs. To help unpack this opportunity, the Brown & Brown team Health & Well-Being is devoting this year Summer series to lifestyle medicine. Through three sessions of engaging webinaries, we will explore science and solutions behind food, movement and friends as medicine – managing guest leaders, case studies and practical implementation advice for employers of all sizes.
We hope you join us for the conversation and help direct the movement towards the health of the whole person in the workplace.