Living Well Lifestyle as Medicine

Living Well Lifestyle as Medicine

We are a group of GPs with a special interest in lifestyle medicine, running a 4-week public well-being course in partnership with Herts and West Essex ICS.

Our Living Well public course consists of one 2-hour session each week, running for a total of 4-weeks. Each session begins with an interactive discussion around the pillars of well-being and behaviour change. The second half of each session consists of a physical activity session run by qualified personal trainers and can be tailored/individualised to the various ability levels of the group. 

This course has been delivered in both St Albans and Harpenden with patients recruited from the following criteria:

-          BMI > 30 or (27.5 in BAME groups) Plus one of the following:

-          Hypertension

-          Pre-diabetes (NOT on NDPP)

-          Dyslipidaemia

-          Depression/anxiety (excluded if on SMI register)

Feedback from practices and patients has been highly positive.

We saw a reported 56% increase in people’s well-being scores over the 4 weeks with scores on average going from 4.7/10 to 7.2/10 at the end of the course.

When asked the statement ‘I am actively involved in my own health’, 42% of people on the course went from disagreeing to agreeing with this statement by the end, with an additional 50% going from agree to strongly agree.

Confidence in making health changes increased in 48% of people, with half going from disagreeing to agreeing that they were capable of doing it!

• 80% of people reported a better understanding of the importance of sleep, with over half of these pre course disagreeing with this statement.

• 87% of people reported a better understanding of how to eat well, and 70% an increased understanding of the importance of a support network.

•   40% of people reported an increase in their sense of purpose in life.

 What people thought of the course…

HOW DID YOU FEEL THE COURSE WENT?      4.7/5

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE QUALITY OF THE PRESENTATIONS DELIVERED?             4.9/5

 ‘Great course and great to see that the surgery is promoting this style of medicine that I was previously unaware of. Thank you so much’

‘I really loved the ‘real’ element of the course. We are all human and all different and everyone respected this. I didn’t feel I was being told off. Fantastic all round’

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It was delivered in a non-judgemental way and I really appreciated hearing all the statistics and evidence.’

‘The course was really fun and real with no preaching. I liked having an informal introduction to the gym environment as it can be very daunting’.

‘This is the best course I have attended about living a healthy lifestyle’.

‘Loved all of the course. It was very informative. I enjoyed the exercises they gave me every week. It has really helped me make small changes and has already had a big impact on my lifestyle’.