The Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM) is an interdisciplinary society working towards improved prevention, management, and treatment of chronic, complex and lifestyle-related conditions.  â€˜Lifestyle-related' includes environmental, societal, behavioural and other factors. ASLM members include GPs and medical specialists, allied health practitioners, public health physicians, educators, scientists, researchers and healthcare executives.

Together, we advocate for a multidisciplinary, multi-system approach to the chronic and lifestyle-related disease problem, and for a comprehensive understanding of health and wellbeing, that is, not just the absence of disease, but for complete physical and mental health, for health equity, social justice, corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability.

ASLM also has a mission to educate and inform members of the public how to better understand ‘health', and therefore how to live healthier, happier lives, and to better prevent, manage and treat chronic and lifestyle-related conditions.  Empowerment and self-management of health and wellbeing are key to bringing about change in a health system overburdened by disease management and this begins with a better understanding of the social and environmental context of health and behaviour.

ASLM is a leading member of a global network of multidisciplinary societies and medical colleges, all working to establish Lifestyle Medicine as central to health and wellbeing, medicine, healthcare and health policy.

Lifestyle Medicine
Defined as “the application of environmental, behavioural, medical and motivational principles to the management (including self-care and self-management) of lifestyle-related health problems in a clinical and/or public health setting” (Egger, Binns, & Rössner, 2010), Lifestyle Medicine provides an interdisciplinary, whole-system approach to the prevention and reversal of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases through the modification of the behavioural, social and environmental drivers.

Bridging the gap between health promotion and clinical practice, it involves clinicians, public health professionals, healthcare executives, researchers, scientists and educators working together to prevent, manage and treat conditions that result from:

• Physical inactivity
• Poor diet or nutrition
• Smoking
• Alcohol overconsumption
• Chronic stress
• Anxiety
• Poor or inadequate sleep
• Social isolation
• Loss of culture and identity
• Other influences of society and environment

Lifestyle Medicine is growing in popularity around the world as a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to the challenges faced by our society and our health system. In Australasia, Lifestyle Medicine has grown under the guidance of ASLM and its board, working parties, members and management team.