MedLife launches first Center for Lifestyle Medicine in Romania

Leading private healthcare provider MedLife announced the launch of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine - Better Me, the first medical unit with this profile in Romania. According to the company, following accreditation, the local center will become one of the first certified locations of its kind at the European level.

The activity of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine ensures an integrated approach to several medical and non-medical specialities with a direct impact on lifestyle – nutrition, psychology, somnology, physical activity, addictions and mindfulness. Patients can thus benefit in an integrated circuit from a complete evaluation of these parameters, personalized intervention plans and monitoring.

The center's team consists of nutritionists, sports medicine doctors and physiotherapists, doctors with expertise in sleep medicine, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, and mental health specialists.

The Better Me center addresses both healthy people who want to improve their lifestyle, as well as overweight people, patients with chronic diseases or people with various other pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, hepatic steatosis, prediabetes, diabetes, dyslipidemias, endocrine disorders, atopic dermatitis or psoriasis.

"Lifestyle-related diseases are today the main cause of mortality and disability on the planet, and the World Health Organization estimates that they are the source of about 80% of the deaths recorded in Europe. In Romania, the prevalence of obesity and overweight exceeds 50%, although recommendations for a correct lifestyle have long been discussed in the scientific environment," said Dr Anca Hâncu, coordinator of the MedLife Lifestyle Medicine Center, Romania's representative and general secretary on the Board of the European Lifestyle Medicine Organization (ELMO).

"Lifestyle medicine involves the use of lifestyle-related therapeutic approaches - balanced diet, regular physical activity, sleep quality, stress management and avoiding the consumption of risky substances - for prevention, treatment or remission of chronic diseases," she explained.

Lifestyle medicine is starting to be recognized worldwide as a separate discipline/competency. Specialized care and counselling institutions are created, within which, based on lifestyle, the prevention, treatment and even remission of certain ailments are carried out.

According to MedLife, lifestyle medicine is based on scientific evidence, medical guidelines and meta-analyses recognized by the medical world, including pharmacological or surgical treatments where necessary.

The MedLife Center for Lifestyle Medicine operates within the MedLife Floreasca Hyperclinic in Bucharest, but its services can also be accessed online.