India's first lifestyle medicine programme launched in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Aster CMI Hospital, announced the launch of Lifestyle Medicine Programme (LMP) ON Thursday to help people with various lifestyle diseases and better manage their condition. The hospital is also setting up a new department that focuses on providing medical treatment and care on these lines.

This LMP is the first hospital-based, physician-led lifestyle Programme conducted for the first time in India.

The Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood of Karnataka, C N Ashwath Narayan, was the chief guest of the Programme and inaugurated the newly launched department.

According to WHO, non-communicable diseases or NCDs, of which lifestyle diseases are a part, claim 41 million lives annually, which is over 70 per cent of all deaths across the globe. Of these, over 15 million deaths occur among people in the age band of 30 to 69 years. In India, NCDs claim 6 million lives.

Aster's Lifestyle Medicine Programme is an initiation and a promising start. It is an established Programme in hospitals, helping specialty doctors and very few hospitals across the world have it.

Smoking, drinking, drugs, exposure to pollutants at work or home, lack of physical activity, restricted movement for prolonged hours, poor or unhealthy eating habits, high-stress levels, poor and/or little sleep are some of the causes of lifestyle diseases. The Programme focuses on addressing these issues and management through the six pillars - food/nutrition, exercise/physical activities/fitness, sleep hygiene, stress management, substance abuse and positive psychology. The Programme emphasizes adopting a healthy lifestyle at an early stage to avoid these diseases later in life.

Commenting on the Programme, C N Ashwath Narayan said, "In India, lifestyle diseases are one of the biggest killers today. Often, many of us think that these diseases are bound to happen when we reach a certain age. However, these can be prevented if we follow a healthy lifestyle. The focus should be on early prevention.

I would like to congratulate Aster CMI Hospital on starting this Programme, which will help in spreading awareness and help people to make the right choices for themselves".

The Lead consultant - Nuclear Medicine, Aster CMI Hospital, Dr. Mythri Shankar said "Lifestyle diseases arise because of the way we lead our life. Heart disease, Atherosclerosis, Stroke, Respiratory ailments, Obesity and Type 2 diabetes are some of the common lifestyle diseases and the number is rising exponentially across the country, especially in urban areas. Keeping this in mind, we are launching the Lifestyle Medicine Programme to help treat chronic diseases, help patients modify their lifestyles and build the skills needed to lead a healthy life.

There has been a paradigm shift in how we look at these diseases, earlier we used to treat them symptomatically but this Programme will help address the root cause.

We are proud to be the first hospital in India to start this. I hope with this programme, patients will get benefited from it and help reduce the burden of lifestyle in India".