Lifestyle Medicine Stresses Meaning, Purpose, Spirituality

New paper calls for integrating meaning, purpose, and spirituality as core components of lifestyle medicine

Published on Mar. 7, 2026

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A new peer-reviewed paper from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) calls for meaning, purpose, and spirituality to be treated as core components of lifestyle medicine, not optional add-ons, as they directly influence patients' ability to adopt and sustain health-promoting behaviors. The paper outlines practical strategies for integrating these elements into clinical practice, and highlights the need for system-level changes to support adoption.

Why it matters

Meaning, purpose, and spirituality have been shown to be associated with healthier behaviors, greater psychological resilience, improved well-being, and even lower mortality risk. However, these elements remain inconsistently addressed in routine clinical practice, despite national organizations recognizing spirituality as an important dimension of care.

The details

The paper emerged from a 2025 national summit convened by ACLM in collaboration with the Global Positive Health Institute. It synthesizes research showing the benefits of integrating meaning, purpose, and spirituality (MPS) into lifestyle medicine, and outlines practical strategies such as tools to capture a brief spiritual history, whole-person frameworks, and team-based workflows. The authors emphasize the need for patient-led, culturally sensitive conversations grounded in compassion and trust.

  • The paper was published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine in March 2026.
  • The national summit that led to the paper was convened in 2025.

The players

American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM)

The nation's medical professional society advancing the field of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system.

Global Positive Health Institute

An organization that collaborated with ACLM to convene the 2025 national summit that led to the paper.

Ardmore Institute of Health

The organization that provided funding for the 2025 national summit.

Marc Braman, MD, MPH

The first author of the paper, which calls for integrating meaning, purpose, and spirituality into lifestyle medicine.

Micaela Karlsen, PhD, MSPH

The ACLM Senior Director of Research and Quality, who commented on the importance of understanding meaning, purpose, and spirituality for better clinical care and clinician well-being.

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What they’re saying

“We need to see and value patients as whole people and align care with what matters to them. Whole-person lifestyle medicine works because health is valued by people who have important things to live for. Connecting these dots naturally produces positive change—potentially transformative change. It is how we are wired.”

— Marc Braman, MD, MPH (American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine)

“Clinicians don't just want to see their patients survive; they want to see them thrive, and to do that they need to understand all drivers of the individual's health.”

— Micaela Karlsen, PhD, MSPH, ACLM Senior Director of Research and Quality (American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine)

What’s next

The paper highlights the need for system-level changes to support the adoption of integrating meaning, purpose, and spirituality into lifestyle medicine, including alignment of reimbursement models, development of meaningful metrics, and expanded clinician training in whole-person care.

The takeaway

This paper represents a significant shift in the field of lifestyle medicine, recognizing that meaning, purpose, and spirituality are core components that directly influence patients' ability to adopt and sustain health-promoting behaviors. Integrating these elements into clinical practice has the potential to produce transformative change in patient outcomes and well-being.