ASU hosts annual healthy lifestyles conference

Students and health care professionals are encouraged to attend Arizona State University’s Building Healthy Lifestyles Conference, Feb. 7-8, at Old Main on the Tempe campus. The conference aims to shift traditional medical thinking toward a paradigm of lifestyle as medicine.

The conference’s theme is “Lifestyle as Medicine: Beyond Pills and Procedures,” and will feature nutrition, physical activity and exercise physiology experts discussing lifestyle-based alternatives and adjuncts to contemporary drug therapy and procedures frequently used to treat America’s common chronic health conditions.

Internationally recognized scholars, including Laurie Goodyear, PhD (Harvard Medical School), Dr. David Jenkins (physician and professor at the University of Toronto), Mark Haykowsky, PhD (University of Alberta) and Glenn Gaesser, PhD (Arizona State University, author of "Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health") are some of the featured speakers at the conference.

Goodyear will present data from her provocative research that examines the effects of exercise on fat tissue; Jenkins will discuss the effects of dietary strategies for the management of cardiovascular risk. Haykowsky will share his insights into the treatment of advanced cardiovascular disease such as heart failure with exercise training, and Gaesser will present data on the positive health effects of short bouts of exercise.

“At its core, the conference is a gathering of world-renowned experts, sharing their research and building ideas on improving the health and well-being of people all over the world,” said Linda Vaughan, director of the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion. “Students will experience several unique benefits from attending the conference because it gives them a rare opportunity to meet with the researchers behind the studies they’ve been reading.”  

The conference is hosted by doctoral students in the school's Interdisciplinary Physical Activity, Nutrition and Wellness program from the College of Health Solutions.

For more information on registration, including obtaining an early bird discount by registering before Jan. 17, visit snhp.asu.edu/bhlc. Questions about the event can be sent via email to bhlconference@gmail.com.