Hugh Bethell founded the Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre, Alton

It is never easy to get people to change behaviour, but it is possible. Take the example of cigarette smoking which has fallen from about 20% to about 14% in the UK in the past six years alone. Doctors have played a big part in this – by their example as non-smokers and by their exhortations to their customers. Can they do the same for exercise? I believe so – though it would be made easier if the government could be persuaded to make inactivity taxable!

Continue reading “Exercise: the answer to nearly everything” →

When we founded the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine nearly five years ago the choice of the word “society” was deliberate. We had a real sense of people coming together with a shared passion for improving people’s health and wellbeing. We felt we could be greater than the sum of our parts. There really was “such a thing as society”.

Continue reading “Lifestyle Medicine Week 2020” →

Kurren Sandu is a junior doctor in Leicester. 

For the last few weeks, I’ve been watching the Covid-19 pandemic unfold on the frontline in the NHS. Working in A&E as the number of cases rose, I was often the designated Covid doctor and would assess patients with respiratory symptoms coming through the front door.

Continue reading “Helping those on the frontline to cope during Covid-19” →