Healthcare professionals who use lifestyle medicine in their practice report lower levels of burnout and greater job satisfaction, according to a new study published in BMC Health Services Research. The research, titled "Using Lifestyle Medicine to Treat Patients Can Reduce Practitioner Burnout: A Descriptive Model Derived from Healthcare Staff Interviews," involved interviews with 41 healthcare professionals and administrators from five U.S. health systems that have adopted lifestyle medicine programs.
Interviewees included physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, psychologists, health coaches, and administrators. They described improvements in their professional experience after the implementation of lifestyle medicine. Many cited meaningful patient outcomes, increased patient empowerment, stronger relationships with patients, and alignment between their values and daily clinical work as key factors contributing to higher job satisfaction.
Burnout among healthcare workers is common and has been linked to reduced quality of care, lower patient satisfaction, and increased staff turnover. It is often caused by administrative burdens, inefficient systems, heavy workloads, and a loss of professional autonomy. While earlier surveys indicated a connection between practicing lifestyle medicine and reduced burnout rates among clinicians, this study is one of the first to examine the reasons behind this relationship.
The study identified several elements that may help protect against burnout: observing improvements in patient health; higher patient satisfaction; support from like-minded colleagues; appreciation for organizational backing; and better personal health for staff who apply lifestyle medicine principles themselves.
Researchers created an explanatory model connecting these factors to the three main aspects of burnout—emotional exhaustion, cynicism or detachment from work, and a diminished sense of professional accomplishment. Their findings suggest that incorporating lifestyle medicine into clinical practice can reduce exhaustion and detachment while increasing clinicians' sense of effectiveness at work.
However, the authors caution that implementing lifestyle medicine alone will not resolve structural causes of burnout such as high workloads or documentation requirements. They suggest that adopting lifestyle medicine at an organizational level could be a promising strategy to benefit both patients and healthcare providers.
"Previous research has shown an association between practicing lifestyle medicine and lower levels of clinician burnout," said ACLM Senior Director of Research Micaela Karlsen, PhD. "This study builds on that evidence by giving voice to clinicians and illuminating how meaningful patient outcomes, value-aligned care, and stronger patient-clinician relationships may help restore professional joy and purpose in healthcare practice."
Lifestyle medicine is defined as a medical specialty focused on using therapeutic interventions related to diet, physical activity, sleep habits, stress management, social connections, and avoidance of risky substances as primary treatments for chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Certified practitioners are trained to prescribe evidence-based changes aimed at treating or even reversing these diseases through whole-person approaches.
