What is Lifestyle Medicine?
Medicine has always known that how we live shapes how long and how well we live. Here’s what that means in practice.
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Evidence-Based Medicine for Everyday Practice
Lifestyle Medicine is the evidence-based practice of using nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, social connection and the avoidance of risky substances to prevent, treat and often reverse chronic disease. It sits squarely within mainstream clinical practice, grounded in the same evidence standards as any other branch of medicine.
It’s a clinical discipline that treats the whole person, addressing the root cause of disease alongside the symptom, across every health profession and every chronic disease Australians and Aotearoa New Zealanders face, from cardiovascular disease to type 2 diabetes and depression.
Purpose
Lifestyle Medicine prevents, treats and often reverses chronic disease by addressing its root causes.
Evidence
Every recommendation is grounded in peer-reviewed research and mainstream clinical guidelines.
Who it supports
GPs, nurses, allied health professionals and specialists, across every chronic disease and care setting.
Next step
Explore ASLM’s education pathways and take the first step toward Accreditation or Fellowship.
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Grounded in Evidence, Centred on You
Lifestyle Medicine draws on both evidence-based practice, where research is well established, and evidence-informed practice, where we apply the best available evidence as new areas of the field develop. Both are held to the same standard of clinical rigour.
But rigour alone isn’t enough. Real change happens in the relationship between practitioner and patient, working together to find what fits a person’s life, not just their diagnosis. That’s the heart of Lifestyle Medicine: treating the whole person and the root cause of disease, so lifestyle itself becomes the medicine.
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Key information
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What is included?
Evidence-based care across nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, connection and substance use, treating root causes.
Who is this for?
Lifestyle Medicine is practised across every discipline: GPs, nurses, allied health professionals and specialists.
What happens next?
Become recognised through ASLM Accreditation and Fellowship, marking genuine expertise in evidence-based, whole-person care.
Not ready to get started?
No pressure, come to an event or join a regional chapter first.
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Your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Not sure where to start? These are the questions practitioners ask us most.
What is ASLM, and who is it actually for?
ASLM is the peak multidisciplinary professional body for Lifestyle Medicine in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, bringing together GPs, nurses, allied health professionals, researchers, students and health coaches around evidence-based, whole-person care.
Is Lifestyle Medicine an evidence-based clinical discipline, not a wellness trend?
Lifestyle Medicine is a clinical discipline delivered by qualified health professionals and held to the same evidence standards as any other area of medicine. ASLM draws a clear line between wellness as a trend and wellbeing as a genuine clinical outcome.
I already talk to patients about lifestyle. Why is this different?
Lifestyle Medicine goes beyond a conversation. It’s a structured, evidence-based clinical approach with defined pathways, tools and outcomes, backed by training, credentialing and a body of research most general lifestyle advice doesn’t draw on.
Why is Lifestyle Medicine multidisciplinary, isn't this mainly for GPs?
Lifestyle Medicine belongs to every health profession. Nurses, allied health professionals, health coaches, researchers and GPs all play a genuine role, working together rather than in separate silos to support whole-person care.
Does Accreditation or Fellowship change my scope of practice?
ASLM is a professional association, not a Registered Training Organisation. Accreditation and Fellowship don’t grant the right to practise independently or change your scope of practice, they add recognised Lifestyle Medicine competencies to your existing qualifications, recognised by your colleagues, RACGP, RNZCGP and ACRRM.
What's the difference between Accreditation and Fellowship?
Accreditation (AALM) recognises your foundation training in evidence-based, whole-person care. Fellowship is ASLM’s highest honour, recognising sustained expertise and leadership. Explore our education pathways to find the right starting point.
Is this only for prevention, or does it treat disease too?
Lifestyle Medicine is used across the full spectrum, from preventing chronic disease to treating and, in many cases, reversing it, alongside conventional care for existing conditions.
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