ABSTRACT
The disciplinary fields of Positive Psychology and Lifestyle Medicine have made significant contributions to preventing ill-health and promoting physical and psychological health and wellbeing. While each field has focused largely on their domain of expertise, growing and establishing theory, research and practice in burgeoning areas, there is now growing interest in merging best practices from each of these fields, in an attempt to create more effective and lasting benefits. This interest in working collectively has arisen as a result of compelling examples that the mind and body are inextricably linked and that therefore the mind and body should be studied together. In this way, more complete and holistic interventions can be developed to prevent ill health and promote wellbeing. To achieve this, genuine collaboration and transparency among interdisciplinary practitioners is essential. Lifestyle medicine and positive psychology professionals working together to share insights and develop joint initiatives is a good starting point, but input from other disciplines such as from environmental science and urban planning will also need to provide infrastructure support and capabilities. Training students in these health and wellbeing professions using an interdisciplinary lens will also be a key step. This chapter provides an overview on why studying the mind and body together is essential to foster effective and sustained approaches to improving health and wellbeing. It will outline the contributions made by lifestyle medicine and positive psychology towards this endeavour and it will conclude with some practical interventions that have arisen due to insights from multiple fields invested in promoting good health and wellbeing. Recommendations emphasising greater systems support and easier pathways for interdisciplinary collaborations are presented.
