Lifestyle in Medicine 3

Contents:
The aim of this course is to continue drawing attention to the topic of ‘lifestyle’ in healthcare. It is a follow-up to the successful ‘Lifestyle in Medicine’ courses in 2014 and 2016. It is estimated that 80-95% of our current diseases are primarily caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Important adverse lifestyle factors are an unhealthy diet, insufficient exercise, chronic stress, chronic sleep deprivation, an abnormal microbial flora (microbiome) in e.g. the intestine, and an unhealthy environment (including smoking and particulate matter). These factors interact: they influence each other. Achieving a healthier lifestyle requires a coordinated approach from different disciplines. In this course, 7 teachers from the Netherlands, one from Portugal and 4 local specialists will perform. Each of them has knowledge of one or more of the lifestyle factors mentioned above. Superficial advice such as ‘eat a little less’, ‘exercise a little more’ and ‘go to bed a little earlier’ will not work. Nor is pursuing unrealistic goals. Only if the patient becomes an active partner in the treatment will ’lifestyle advice’ be successful. The medical doctor is the coordinator of a team of health professionals. This course will highlight this concept in all its facets: both from the perspective of the individual lifestyle factors and from their integrated approach.

Target group:
- General Practitioner
- Medical doctor
- Dietician
- Nurse & Paramedic
- General Public

Learning goals:
1. To provide knowledge and insight into the main determinants of a (un)healthy lifestyle: knowledge of the individual factors and their interactions.
2. To provide detailed insight into the various (sub)factors in an unhealthy lifestyle, that is unhealthy diet, chronic stress, chronic sleep deprivation, (environmental) pollution, insufficient physical activity, and an abnormal microbial flora (microbiome).
3. To provide knowledge and insight into factors that are decisive in the reversal of an unhealthy lifestyle.
4. To emphasize the differences in approach via “regular medicine” and “lifestyle medicine”.