LIFESTYLE MEDICINE RESEARCH HUB
 

What 'Lifestyle Medicine' Actually Means

A foundational overview arguing that everyday habits are powerful enough to prevent and often treat chronic disease.

Does Lavender Really Calm Anxiety?

Across more than 100 trials, lavender reduced anxiety, with the strongest evidence for a standardised oral preparation.

Can Aromatherapy Ease Low Mood?

About half of the trials reviewed found aromatherapy eased depressive symptoms, with massage more effective than inhalation.

Aromatherapy and a Better Night's Sleep

Pooled trials found aromatherapy improved sleep quality, with lavender the most studied oil.

Scent for Menopausal Symptoms

In placebo-controlled trials, inhaled lavender or low-dose neroli reduced overall menopausal symptom scores.

How the Smell of Rosemary or Lavender Shifts the Mind

Rosemary aroma sharpened memory and alertness, while lavender lifted calm but slightly dulled quick thinking.

Spa Therapy, Tested Against Medication for Anxiety

A course of mineral-water spa therapy eased generalised anxiety at least as much as a standard medication.

Do Mineral Baths Help Osteoarthritis?

Mineral baths may ease osteoarthritis pain while treatment continues, though the evidence is weak.

Water-Based Therapy for Fibromyalgia Pain

Pooled trials found spa and water-based therapies produced a small but consistent reduction in fibromyalgia pain.

Exercising in the Sea Versus a Pool for Fibromyalgia

Women with fibromyalgia improved from water exercise either way, with a greater lift in mood from exercising in the sea.

Sun and Sea at the Dead Sea for Psoriasis

A course of Dead Sea climatotherapy improved psoriasis severity and quality of life.

Three Days of Sea Therapy for Tired, Overstretched Workers

A short thalassotherapy break with sleep support improved mood, wellbeing, sleep and alertness in healthy working adults.

Where the Science on Sea-Based Therapy Stands

A 2024 review found the strongest evidence for sea-based therapy in psoriasis and fibromyalgia, with much still unproven.

Does a Week at a Spa Actually Lift Your Mood?

Patients reported meaningfully better mood after a week of spa treatment, with less anger and fatigue and more vigour.

Short Sleep in Your Fifties and Later Dementia Risk

Sleeping six hours or less a night in midlife was linked to around a 30 percent higher risk of dementia decades later.

The Talking Therapy That Treats Insomnia at Its Source

A short course of cognitive behavioural therapy improved sleep as a lasting first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.

What Losing Sleep Does to Your Emotions

Across fifty years of experiments, sleep loss reliably lowered positive mood and raised anxiety, even after a single short night.

Mindfulness Training, Measured Against Medication for Anxiety

An eight-week mindfulness course matched a standard anxiety medication, with far fewer side effects.

The Two Hours of Nature a Week That Seem to Matter

People who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature were markedly more likely to report good health and wellbeing.

Does Mindfulness Work Outside the Clinic?

In most community settings mindfulness courses reduced stress, anxiety and depression, though not for everyone.

The Mediterranean Diet, Tested in a Landmark Heart Trial

A Mediterranean diet with extra virgin olive oil or nuts cut major cardiovascular events by around 30 percent.

Can Changing How You Eat Ease Depression?

In the first trial of its kind, a Mediterranean-style diet meaningfully reduced depression symptoms over twelve weeks.

How Many Years Could a Better Diet Add?

Modelling suggests a sustained shift to a healthier diet could add around eight years of life for a woman starting at 60.

A Whole-of-Life Approach to Protecting the Ageing Brain

A two-year programme combining diet, exercise, brain training and health monitoring protected thinking skills in at-risk older adults.

How Many Daily Steps Actually Move the Needle?

Benefits to lifespan began at under 4,000 steps a day, and every extra 1,000 steps lowered mortality risk by around 15 percent.

What the Evidence Links to Ultra-Processed Foods

Higher intake of ultra-processed foods was linked to greater risk of early death, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression.

Can Gratitude Actually Help You Live Longer?

Older women with the highest gratitude scores had around a 9 percent lower risk of dying over three years.

The Kinds of Exercise That Ease Depression Most

Walking or jogging, yoga and strength training showed the largest antidepressant effects across hundreds of trials.

Five Minutes of Slow Breathing, Tested Against Meditation

Five minutes a day of exhale-focused breathing lifted mood and slowed breathing more than mindfulness meditation.

Why a Regular Sleep Schedule May Matter More Than Hours Slept

Consistent sleep timing predicted mortality risk more strongly than sleep duration, with up to 48 percent lower risk.

What the Evidence Says About Fixing Burnout at the Source

Changing how work is organised shows promise for reducing exhaustion, though the evidence base is still thin.

Why the Perimenopause Years Carry a Higher Risk of Depression

Perimenopausal women were around 40 percent more likely to experience depression than premenopausal women.

How Childhood Adversity May Show Up in the Body Decades Later

Pooled studies link early-life adversity to modestly faster biological ageing, though the certainty is still limited.

Feeling That Life Has Meaning, and Living Longer

Each step up in reported meaning in life was associated with a 15 percent lower risk of dying from any cause.

How Your Beliefs About Ageing Shape How Long You Live

Older adults with a more positive view of ageing lived around seven and a half years longer.

What Long-Term Stress Does to the Body at a Cellular Level

Women under the greatest chronic stress showed cellular ageing corresponding to roughly a decade of extra years.

The Four Experiences That Actually Restore Your Energy

Genuine recovery rests on four distinct experiences: switching off, relaxing, mastering something, and having control over your time.

What Eighty Years of Harvard Research Found Keeps People Healthy

The quality of close relationships predicted health and happiness in later life more reliably than wealth, class or IQ.