Lifestyle Medicine as an Effective Virtual Intervention for Stroke Survivors

Abstract

Lifestyle medicine is the use of healthy lifestyle habits such as sleep, diet, physical exercise and social connections, as a primary therapeutic modality for treatment and reversal of chronic disease. Stroke is one of the leading chronic diseases, and both physicians and stroke survivors have appreciated the importance of lifestyle medicine in stroke prevention and rehabilitation. Despite this understanding, many stroke patients have unhealthy lifestyle habits even post stroke survival. A recent study found that the use of self-monitoring and an increased awareness about personal behavior may better facilitate a stroke survivor’s efforts at secondary stroke prevention through lifestyle modification. We hypothesize that Spaulding’s short-term Virtual Wellness Program will reverse this previous trend of unhealthy lifestyle habits exhibited by stroke survivors. In addition, our study will be a pioneer in the stroke rehabilitation industry by evaluating the efficacy of a Virtual Wellness Program which utilizes increased self-monitoring and awareness of unhealthy lifestyle habits as techniques to enhance healthy lifestyle modifications by stroke survivors.