BSLM 2021 Annual Conference

The British Society of Lifestyle Medicine's fifth annual conference takes place between September 2nd-4th

8am, 2nd Sep, 2021 - 6pm, 4th Sep, 2021
Edinburgh International Conference Centre

Join us for BSLM2021 our fifth lifestyle medicine conference dedicated to the art and science of healthy longevity.

This year’s British Society of Lifestyle Medicine conference takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre from September 2nd – 4th.

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has never been a greater need for lifestyle medicine. People with chronic health conditions have been at much greater risk from the virus, and lifestyle medicine offers hope that we can build resilience in our populations against this and future communicative disease threats.

Once again we will be bringing you leading figures from the global lifestyle medicine community, including experts from healthcare and medicine, academia, public health and scientific research.

Our collective goal is to transform healthcare, exploring new approaches to the prevention, treatment, management and reversal of chronic disease.

There really is no conference quite like this in the UK, one which brings together clinicians, scientists, researchers, health professionals and also patients.

BSLM 2021 Conference Programme

A message from our chairman

The last 12 months have been the greatest public health challenge we have seen in our lifetimes.

The Covid-19 virus has claimed the lives of millions of people around the world and placed unprecedented pressures on our healthcare systems.

Many BSLM members, whether clinicians or allied health professionals have been on the frontline in the fight against the virus. It has placed a huge toll on their own mental health and wellbeing – while laying bare the personal and societal costs of chronic disease.

Here in the UK, the pandemic has thrown a spotlight on how we deliver healthcare – and sadly it has exposed the fundamental need for new approaches. These new approaches, built on the pillars of lifestyle medicine, must emphasise the lifestyle factors behind many non-communicable diseases – and the social determinants which are often a critical factor. Without blaming or judging, lifestyle medicine offers the potential to support people to make positive changes to improve their health and wellbeing.

BSLM2021 will be an opportunity to come together and reflect on our experiences during the pandemic and what it means for lifestyle medicine.

We look forward to welcoming you, whether you are a committed member of our growing movement – or if you have not yet joined BSLM.

No doubt many of your experiences during the pandemic will have been difficult – and indeed your own health may have suffered.

Much of the focus of BSLM2021 will be on supporting you. Our conference will be an opportunity for you to connect, be active, meditate and eat healthily – while reflecting on your year and reprioritising your own health goals, so you can deliver the best care possible for your own patients.

We can’t wait to see you in Edinburgh this September – the city where we founded the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine five years ago.

Rob Lawson, BSLM chairman

Five Years of BSLM

This year’s conference will be an opportunity to celebrate five years’ of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

Our Society has come a long way since our first conference in Bristol in 2017 when less than a hundred people attended our inaugural event.

Since then our membership has grown to more than 1,400 clinicians, allied healthcare professionals and medical students.

Following on from our successful online conference in 2020, which drew over 700 delegates, we’re hoping to attract well over 1,000 delegates in person and online to this year’s conference in Edinburgh.

So what’s on offer?

Over a packed three-day programme we will be bringing you expert speakers covering all the key elements of the lifestyle medicine approach including:

  • Covid-19 and lifestyle medicine – how we can address the “third wave” of chronic conditions neglected during the pandemic
  • Diet and nutrition
  • Physical activity
  • Stress, mental health, social connectedness and wellbeing
  • Sleep
  • Group consultations and virtual group consultations – and their potential to meet pent up healthcare needs in the UK
  • Population health improvement, public health and behaviour change
  • The social determinants of health and health inequalities
  • Health, the environment and “planetary health”

All interspersed with some fun activities to keep us moving

You can view our speakers here

BSLM2021 also provides opportunities to meet and network with others with a shared interest in lifestyle medicine. There is no other networking event in the UK which brings together such a broad spectrum of people all with a shared commitment to reversing the rising tide of chronic disease in the UK.

A ‘real world’ conference and a virtual event

Despite the current challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic we are committed to hosting a ‘real world’ conference this year. With the current ambitious roll out of a Covid-19 vaccine programme we are as confident as we can be that restrictions will have been lifted by the end of the summer enough to allow events such as our conference to go ahead.

We are hopeful that the timing of the conference will allow safe socialising – which is so crucial if we are to reconnect with others. If covid circumstances permit we hope we can re-ignite your important social connections in the world of lifestyle medicine with an in-person event’

Our first ever virtual event was a huge success last September – and we want to bring some of the benefits of this approach to our conference in Edinburgh.

So as well as being able to buy tickets to attend in person we will also be ‘live streaming’ content for those unable to come to Edinburgh.

So join us in person or from the comfort of your own living room – this year the choice is yours.

Conference Dinner and Entertainment

BSLM is hosting dinner and entertainment on the Friday (September 3rd), at the National Museum of Scotland. Tickets will cost £60.

Book Dinner Seat

The Conference is Now Closed

The BSLM 2021 annual conference is now under way and as such no more tickets can be purchased. Recordings and associated resources will be made available to members via the BSLM website 2-3 month after the conference close.

Catching up on the conference

Don’t worry! If you miss any presentations during the conference they will be made available for catch up at the end of each day via the website.

Call for Abstracts

Tell us your lifestyle medicine success stories!

For the fifth year we will be inviting submissions for poster presentation abstracts which demonstrate the value of lifestyle medicine in clinical practice.We are looking for examples of original, important or relevant work in the areas of science, research, clinical application (including service improvement or audit projects) or public health.

Successful applicants will be offered the opportunity to present a poster – both at the ICC and online.

Click Here to Find Out More

IBLM and BSLM Diploma Exam

If you are studying towards the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine diploma through BSLM, attendance at our annual conference is the best way to obtain your 10 hours of in-person Lifestyle Medicine specific CPD. This is a key requirement of the course.If you are considering completing the Lifestyle Medicine Diploma through BSLM visit the BSLM/IBLM certification page

Please note this year’s exam will not take place during the conference but will be held in a Prometric Test Centre near you between 27th November and 11th December 2021

Confirmed Speakers

Tim Spector

Presenting:

Is personalised nutrition the future?

Dame Sally Davies

Presenting:

Collaborations on data to better protect against the next pandemic

Mark Beaumont

Presenting:

After dinner speech

Dame Fiona Reynolds

Presenting:

The physical and mental health benefits of access to nature and greenspace, and the importance of this as part of our general covid recovery plans

Garry Egger

Presenting:

Let’s stop all syndemics

Roy Taylor

Presenting:

Achieving long term remission of type 2 diabetes via knowledge of aetiology

Gordan Lauc

Presenting:

Glycans: Who would have thought?

James McCormack

Presenting:

Less is more in medicine

Joanna McMillan

Presenting:

Science vs myth of current diet trends

Richard Weller

Presenting:

Covid-19: lighting up the dark. Upside to sunlight

Rosie Rowe

Presenting:

Health and wellbeing in our homes and towns

Sam Manger

Presenting:

Lifestyle medicine in brain ageing

Ramai Santhirapala

Presenting:

Choosing Wisely UK

Chris Freer

Presenting:

I have an incurable/autoimmune illness

George McGavin

Presenting:

A Spot Of Bother

Bernard Srour

Presenting:

Highly processed foods and human health – epidemiologic evidence from prospective studies

Jamie Waterall

Presenting:

All Our Health Programme

Andrew Power

Presenting:

The unique properties of water and benefits of aquatic activity on health

Michael Farquhar

Presenting:

Sleep: An important pillar of health in children

Linda Bauld

Presenting:

Behavioural Science

Fiona Moffatt

Presenting:

GO H2O! : Aquatic Activity for Health

Ben Wilkins

Presenting:

GO H2O! : Aquatic Activity for Health

Gopesh Farmah

Presenting:

Resistance training and health

Nilesh Satgurunathan

Presenting:

Compassionate Circles

Robert Thomas

Presenting:

How To Live

Dimple Devadas

Presenting:

Psychology in Lifestyle Medicine

Mark Rowe

Presenting:

Physician Self Care

Margarete Ezinwa

Presenting:

Role of WLMC in influencing WHO

Varun Anand

Presenting:

Lifestyle Group Consultations for Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Gökhan Hotamışlıgil

Presenting:

Chronic inflammation: the Driver of the other NCD Pandemic

Andrew Morrice

Presenting:

Moving Beyond Diet-Tribes: From Clan-Warfare to Enlightenment?

Harry MacMillan

Presenting:

Models for delivering Type-2 diabetes remission in clinical practice

Cate Collings

Presenting:

From the Bedside to the System Side: The Evolution of the Lifestyle Medicine Movement

Rohini Bajekal

Presenting:

A Lifestyle Approach for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Lucy Loveday

Presenting:

Movement & The Mind

Marianne Killick

Presenting:

Peri/Post-menopause – The Hidden Messages

Sandra Isibor

Presenting:

Ethnic minority health: Making every opportunity count

Terry Kemple

Presenting:

Pharmaceuticals, Patients and the Planet – what’s good, bad or ugly? – Exploring the links between environments, individual mental health and prescribing medications

Michelle Miller

Presenting:

The importance of adequate sleep for health

Charlotte Marriot

Presenting:

Learning from COVID

Graham Stephens

Presenting:

Young People, Lifestyle Medicine, and the Future. Innovation in Education, What Might That Look Like?

Alex Maxwell

Presenting:

Social Prescribing – magic in the mist

Alka Patel

Presenting:

Do you know your lifestyle quotient: how can we measure lifestyle?

Mike Banna

Presenting:

Sound Living

Mohan Sekeram

Presenting:

Social Prescribing during Covid

Rob Mulholland

Presenting:

Art, Outdoors and Mental Health. Human Interaction with the Natural World

Margaret Moore

Presenting:

The Science of Health Coaching

Sarah Ruane (Sport England)

Presenting:

Developing a health movement, for movement

Emilie Combet Aspray

Presenting:

The Pros and Cons of dietary approach to weight loss

Conference Accommodation

We have worked closely with Reservation Highway to provide preferred rates on local hotels for those looking for accommodation for the duration of BSLM 2021

Book a Room

Location

The Exchange
150 Morrison St
Edinburgh
EH3 8EE

How to get there

Things to do in Edinburgh

What’s on in Edinburgh is a fantastic resource for finding great activities in the city of Edinburgh, we have also included some of our favourites below for you to check out.

What’s on in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Darkside Walking Tour

Mysteries, Murder and Legends

Discover the dark side of Scotland’s capital on a historical walking tour that covers Edinburgh’s morbid past. Wind your way through the cobbled streets of Calton Hill, North Bridge, and Canongate cemetery.

  • Departs at 6:30pm
  • £14.08 per person
Darkside Walking Tour

Edinburgh Food & Drink Private Tour

Get a taste of Edinburgh on this guided tasting tour. Try locally sourced dishes and drinks beyond the Royal Mile. Along the way, learn about the history of the area.

  • Duration of 3hr 30 minutes
  • £110 per person
Food & Drink Private Tour

Camera Obscura & World of Illusions

This exciting attraction has five floors and over 150 hands-on exhibits to discover. Explore illusions, tricks, puzzles, giant kaleidoscopes, 3D images, and even a magical mirror maze.

  • Open till 9:00pm
  • Entry ticket £16.50
Camera Obscura

The Scotch Whisky Experience

Explore Scotland’s whisky history from the very beginnings through to the global success of today.

Prices range from £17 – £39

Scotch Whisky Experience
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