What do we mean when we say lifestyle medicine? It’s important to distinguish it from a generic “health and wellness” program. Instead, lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based medical specialty focused on preventing, treating and reversing chronic disease. This clinical approach is why it has become a priority for workforce leaders.
“Employers are tired of paying for sick care and trying to get ahead of chronic disease,” said Dr. Martha Shepherd, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Health. “At the end of the day, most disease is being driven by behaviors and habits. Lifestyle modification is the first line of defense for preventing disease, but it is also the most powerful first step in minimizing the long-term impact of chronic conditions.”
While health care systems and fee-for service payment models aren’t built to deliver the kind of time-intensive care required for behavior modification, employers do have an influential role to play. By building this approach into their benefits plans, employers have an outsized impact on driving the adoption of lifestyle medicine.
Defining Characteristics of Lifestyle Medicine
The approach focuses on nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, substance avoidance, exposure to nature and social connection as behavioral levers that can make or break an individual’s overall health and well-being. Instead of treating or managing symptoms, lifestyle medicine works to overcome root causes for poor health and chronic illness.
Lifestyle medicine considers the whole person and how all aspects of an individual’s circumstances and environment influence their health. It also focuses on empowering patients by teaching self-management skills for lasting change.
“In traditional health care, we assume patients are coming to the doctor because they want another prescription or a quick fix,” said Dr. Shepherd. “In reality, people don’t want another medication. They want to know what they can do in their daily lives to make things better and improve their quality of life.” As evidence of its effectiveness continues to roll in, more employers are prioritizing lifestyle medicine as a strategy for effectively attacking rising health care costs and declining employee health.
In a December 2025 webinar, “Activating Employers as Agents of Change in Lifestyle as Medicine,” a panel of experts from the Health Enhancement Research Organization, Vanderbilt Health, Metro Nashville Public Schools and 3M demonstrated the power of lifestyle as medicine by showcasing the results of an 18-month case study. Researchers demonstrated how to help employers successfully apply lifestyle medicine in real-world settings.
How to Integrate Lifestyle Medicine Into Your Plan
For employers considering this approach for their population, Dr. Shepherd offers the following best practices.
1. Adapt for your employees’ needs and wants. A workforce made up of educators is much different than a workforce made up of truck drivers. That’s why it’s key to customize your approach to meet the specific needs of your population. Feedback is important: Ask your employees what they want within the sphere of lifestyle medicine.
2. Integrate with care delivery. Lifestyle medicine works best when it is embedded in clinical practice. Too often, it is treated like an adjunct to care and provided by various point solutions outside the patient-physician relationship. The best results come when lifestyle medicine is incorporated as another tool or resource that clinicians are leveraging in the support they provide to patients.
3. Train the entire team. It’s not just clinicians who need to know what lifestyle medicine is all about and how to communicate it. Every patient-facing role—from the front desk worker to the patient navigator to HR staff fielding questions—needs to be using common language and collaborating effectively. Lifestyle medicine is a team sport, so invest in upfront training to ensure success.
4. Tap into the power of community. As we’ve talked about in a previous blog post, the United States is suffering through an epidemic of loneliness, an especially acute condition for individuals managing chronic disease. By finding ways to bring people together in community, including group medical visits for specific health concerns such as diabetes, the power of lifestyle medicine interventions can be greatly amplified.
5. Leverage all communication channels. Use all available communication opportunities to promote lifestyle medicine resources. As with other health-related programs, consistent promotion is critical. Also, consider ways to spread the word in a non-clinical way. Instead of inviting employees to a webinar to learn how to eat a high-fiber diet, invite them to an interactive cooking class where they’ll connect with coworkers and learn new skills.
6. Don’t make assumptions. When it comes to lifestyle medicine, it is important to meet individuals where they are. For some people, a lack of reliable transportation or access to fresh produce can negatively impact their ability to follow through on fitness or nutrition goals. Also, it’s very common to overestimate health literacy. Something as simple as a lack of basic knife skills can prevent people from achieving healthy eating habits.
7. Strategically plan and measure. Make sure you are demonstrating a strong return on investment to leadership, while also drawing a clear line to the impact lifestyle medicine will deliver. This requires you to be thoughtful about your goals for the program, as well as identify the right success metrics to track and report. For a helpful strategic planning tool, check out HERO’s resource.
Interested in deploying lifestyle medicine as a strategy for your workforce? Contact the Vanderbilt Health Employer Solutions team today at employersolutions@vumc.org to get a personal consultation and roadmap.