Today, one of the most significant areas in medicine that is rapidly gaining momentum is the so-called lifestyle medicine. It is about approaching lifestyles as therapy, not just disease prevention. Most of us tend to think that advances in the field of medicine are some kind of new drugs, laser or surgical devices, expensive and high-tech. However, making simple choices about what we eat and how we live have a profound effect on our health and well-being. For the past 37 years, Dean Ornish, physician, founder of the Research Institute for Preventive Medicine and professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and author of the diet that bears his name, along with his colleagues and in collaboration with leading scientific The centers have conducted a series of randomized controlled trials and demonstration projects showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes can reverse the progression of coronary heart disease and several other chronic diseases. The lifestyle changes investigated included the following:
- Consuming whole foods, switching to a plant-based diet (naturally low in fat and sugar);
- stress management techniques (including yoga and meditation);
- moderate physical activity (for example, walking);
- social support and community life (love and closeness).
The data obtained in the course of this long-term work has shown that complex lifestyle changes can help:
- fight many heart diseases or seriously reduce their progression;
- cleanse blood vessels and reduce the level of bad cholesterol;
- suppress genes that provoke inflammation, oxidative stress and cancer development;
- activate an enzyme that lengthens the ends of chromosomes and thereby prevents cell aging.
The results were visible almost a month after starting a new lifestyle and persisted in the long term. And as a bonus, patients received a significant reduction in treatment costs! Some of the results are described in more detail below, those who are curious read to the end. I would like to draw the attention of the rest to one of the most interesting, in my opinion, research results: the more people changed their diet and daily habits, the more the different indicators of their health changed. At any age!!! Therefore, it is never too late to improve your lifestyle, you can do it step by step. And these are other results of this long-term study:
- In 1979, the results of a pilot study were published showing that complex lifestyle changes in 30 days can help combat myocardial perfusion. Also during this time, there was a 90% reduction in the frequency of angina attacks.
- In 1983, the results of the first randomized controlled trial were published: 24 days later, radionuclide ventriculography showed that these complex lifestyle changes can reverse heart disease. The frequency of angina attacks decreased by 91%.
- In 1990, the results of the Lifestyle: Trials of the Heart Study, the first randomized controlled trial, were released that demonstrated that lifestyle changes alone can reduce the progression of even severe coronary artery disease. After 5 years, heart problems in patients were 2,5 times less common.
- One of the demonstration projects was carried out with the participation of 333 patients from various medical centers. These patients were shown revascularization (surgical repair of cardiac vessels), and they abandoned it, deciding instead to comprehensively change their lifestyle. As a result, almost 80% of patients were able to avoid surgery due to such complex changes.
- In another demonstration project involving 2974 patients, statistically and clinically significant improvements were found in all health indicators in people who followed the program 85–90% for a year.
- Research has found that complex lifestyle changes change genes. Positive changes were recorded in the expression of 501 genes in just 3 months. Suppressed genes included those that provoke inflammation, oxidative stress, and RAS oncogenes that contribute to the development of breast, prostate and colon cancer. Often patients say, “Oh, I have bad genes, nothing can be done about it.” However, when they learn that lifestyle changes can beneficially change the expression of many genes so quickly, it is very motivating.
- As a result of studies in patients with lifestyle changes, there was an increase in telomerase (an enzyme whose task is to lengthen telomeres – the end portions of chromosomes) by 30% 3 months after such complex lifestyle changes.