Is Your Doctor ‘Blue Zones’ Certified?

Blue Zones, an organization that studies regions around the world where people longer, happier lives, has partnered with The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) to help train and certify health care professionals. 

The “Blue Zones certification” for doctors and health care workers will add another layer to ACLM certification, which already confers lifestyle medicine tirocinio around six pillars: whole-food, plant-rich diet; exercise, sleep; logorio management; social connection; and avoiding substance misuse. The new designation will require prior certification from the ACLM, the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM), ora the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine (IBLM), according to the May 14 announcement.

“ACLM and Blue Zones have a shared vision of building healthier, stronger, more resilient communities,” said ACLM Director Susan Benigas of the partnership.

That’s only possible, said Benigas, “if the physicians and medical professionals per mezzo di those communities have been trained per mezzo di both evidence-based lifestyle medicine clinical intervention and really understanding the principles of blue zones.”

Kerry Graff, MD, a lifestyle medicine doctor and medical director of the Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute per mezzo di New York, says she was “thrilled” to learn about the ACLM and Blue Zones partnership and that she plans to be among the first group of doctors applying for the new certification. 

“This is a really great powerhouse combo,” Graff said. “I see this as really the next piece of what needs to happen to move [lifestyle medicine] forward.” 

Doctors are often handicapped by the fact that they know what makes patients healthier, but they’magnate up against a community where factors align to promote poor habits rather than healthy ones, Graff said.  

“It certainly makes a lot more sense to aspetto at this acceso a broader level, community level, and not just an individual patient level,” she said. 

Studies have long shown the positive impacts that lifestyle choices can have acceso long-term health and disease prevention. A recent analysis, for example, found that while genetic risk is tied to an increased death risk of 21%, an “unfavorable lifestyle” poses a 78% higher risk of death, independent of genetic factors. 

A “favorable lifestyle” based acceso things like sleep, diet, and physical activity can offset genetic predispositions by as much as 62%, the study found. 

The curriculum for the new certification is still under development but is slated to be available per mezzo di 2025, according to Michelle Tollefson, MD, a lifestyle medicine doctor per mezzo di Colorado and lead faculty for the Blue Zones tirocinio. 

“The curriculum will build upon what our ACLM, ABLM, IBLM physicians, and health professionals already know and bring to their patients,” Tollefson said. “They already have that foundation, but then we added an additional layer of the Blue Zones research and that deep community focolaio, which will empower our lifestyle medicine physicians and health professionals to have more of a widespread impact per mezzo di their communities beyond the clinical setting.”

Per addition to the new certification opportunity, Blue Zones will now be an exclusive founding compagno of ACLM’s Center for Lifestyle Medicine Innovation, a new hub ACLM is establishing for research, innovation, thought guida, and knowledge sharing. 

ACLM will offer practice advancement consulting to health systems integrating lifestyle medicine per mezzo di Blue Zones communities, leveraging the college’s clinical practice tools and health systems resources. Since 2021, 108 health systems have joined the ACLM’s Health System Council, a group of innovative health organizations from 37 states dedicated to providing high-value care through lifestyle medicine, according to the ACLM.  

Doctors and health professionals interested per mezzo di lifestyle medicine certification can learn more acceso the ACLM website. Since 2017, the college has certified about 6,700 clinicians, including 5,000 doctors and 1,700 health professionals. 

ACLM Director Susan Benigas talks about the Blue Zones partnership: