CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Lifestyle medicine is a contemporary approach to patient treatment and will form an essential part of your future therapeutic scope of practice. You will study the foundational principles of lifestyle medicine and explore how evidence‑based lifestyle interventions can prevent and manage the chronic conditions commonly encountered in clinical practice. You will examine six fundamental components which form the core of lifestyle interventions—nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, substance reduction and social connection—and learn how each influences human physiology and long‑term health outcomes. Throughout the unit, you will build essential simulated clinical skills through lectures, case‑based learning and practical sessions. You will learn how to assess lifestyle‑related risk factors and apply culturally safe, patient‑centred communication in early clinical encounters. You will also study foundational, simulated clinical skills such as patient history taking and basic patient assessment techniques and procedures (blood pressure, ECG, respiratory function testing and a suturing workshop). This introduction will allow you to begin to integrate lifestyle intervention planning into routine medical care at the start of your medical education journey and have it form a central part of your future clinical practice, with a focus on simple, realistic strategies suitable for acute, primary and community settings. You will additionally explore the wider social, cultural, and environmental determinants of health, and the role of interdisciplinary teams in supporting sustainable behaviour change. By the end of the unit, you will understand how lifestyle medicine complements traditional medical management for a patient centred treatment approach in addition to an introduction of foundational practical simulated clinical skills.