KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 \u2014 Malaysia must strengthen lifestyle-based mental health strategies as rising depression and workplace stress continue to strain the nation, said Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Datuk Dr R. Thirunavukarasu.<\/p>\n
In his address at the opening of the 5th Malaysian Lifestyle Medicine Conference here recently, he said mental health has become a \u201cfrontline challenge\u201d, with the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023 showing that one in three Malaysians experiences mental health issues.<\/p>\n
The text of the speech was made available to Bernama.<\/p>\n
According to Dr Thirunavukarasu, depression rates have doubled since 2019, while nearly half of young adults have reported thoughts of self-harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers are not just statistics. They are our students, our doctors, our colleagues and our patients,\u201d he said, adding that RM14.5 billion in annual productivity losses are linked to mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
He said lifestyle medicine can help address the root causes of distress, noting that about 30 per cent of health outcomes are shaped by diet, physical activity, sleep and stress management.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about replacing medication. It is about addressing what medication alone cannot \u2014 the root causes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the MMA supports stronger workplace well-being policies, burnout-prevention measures and the integration of lifestyle medicine into clinical guidelines, CME (Continuing Medical Education) modules and employer-based health schemes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The MMA president added that mental health among healthcare workers must be prioritised, noting that a study by the American Medical Association in the United States found that around 50 per cent of doctors experience burnout, underscoring a global issue that Malaysia must address.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, conference organising chair and Malaysian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (MSLM) founding president, Dr Siva Poobalasingam, who is also the Chair, Advisory Board, Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance, said Malaysia must act decisively to address the combined burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and worsening psychological distress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not just facing a health challenge \u2014 we are facing a human sustainability challenge. If we do not change how we live, work and connect, the mental health crisis will continue to outpace our healthcare system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The conference also saw leading global lifestyle medicine figures in attendance, including Vice-Dean of Population Health at Weill Cornell Medicine\u2013Qatar, Dr Ravinder Mamtani; Dr Elizabeth Frates of Harvard University; and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Zones Health\u00ae, Dr Wayne Dysinger.<\/p>\n
During the conference, Dr Ravinder paid tribute to Dr Siva for his leadership in advancing lifestyle medicine and combating NCDs \u201cnationally, regionally and globally\u201d, describing his work as instrumental in strengthening the movement globally. \u2014 Bernama\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 \u2014 Malaysia must strengthen lifestyle-based mental health strategies as rising depression and workplace stress…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,192514,786,192516,192513,192517,785,192518,85,192515],"class_list":["post-349199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-depression-rates-in-malaysia","tag-fighting","tag-lifestyle-medicine-conference-malaysia","tag-malaysian-mental-health-strategies","tag-mental-health-among-healthcare-workers","tag-mma","tag-non-communicable-diseases-malaysia","tag-sports","tag-workplace-stress-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}