Corewell Health\u2019s Melissa Sundermann on nutrition, fasting and finding lasting longevity in the great outdoors. <\/p>\n
The Global Longevity Summit 2025<\/a> in Geneva is fast approaching \u2013 three days of science, strategy and spirited debate beneath the banner Mastering the Ageing Clock: Transform Your Practice and Patient Care. Gathering some of the most respected voices in geroscience, preventive health and longevity innovation, it promises to connect the lab bench to the bedside \u2013 and, in some cases, to the hiking trail.<\/p>\n Among the experts taking to the stage is Dr Melissa Sundermann, double board-certified in Internal and Lifestyle Medicine and known to many as Doctor Outdoors<\/a>. She\u2019s the founding chair of the Nature as Medicine Committee at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine<\/a>, where she champions evidence-based engagement with the natural world. Her message is both simple and subversive: sustainable health begins with sustainable habits \u2013 nutrition, movement, sleep and a daily dose of fresh air \u2013 because, as she reminds her patients, \u201cage is not your cage\u201d.<\/p>\n Longevity.Technology: It\u2019s refreshing, in a field sometimes dazzled by peptides, exosomes and algorithmic biomarkers, to hear a physician place such confident emphasis on the basics \u2013 not as nostalgic simplicity, but as biological bedrock. Sundermann\u2019s prescription of food, fasting and forests may sound almost quaint beside plasma exchange and gene reprogramming, yet the data \u2013 and her patients \u2013 suggest otherwise. Her practice, grounded in lifestyle medicine and animated by her osteopathic training \u2013 that whole-person connection between body, mind and environment \u2013 bridges the clinical and the elemental. In her view, our future selves may be shaped not only by what\u2019s in our bloodstream, but by the view from our window \u2013 preferably one that contains a tree.<\/p>\n Melissa Sundermann on\u2026 Nutrition, fasting and the clinical reality of longevity <\/p>\n I\u2019m thrilled to be heading to Geneva, where I\u2019ll be speaking on nutrition, fasting and metabolism for longevity. I\u2019m taking the angle of a clinician \u2013 as medical director of lifestyle medicine for the largest healthcare system in Michigan, with over 66,000 employees and 23 hospitals. I\u2019ll be talking about what this looks like on the ground: how we implement healthy nutrition, fasting protocols and optimize wellbeing for our patients and population.<\/p>\n Nature as medicine <\/p>\n As I became board certified in lifestyle medicine after 25 years in internal medicine, I started looking at the pillars \u2013 food, sleep, stress management, movement, positive social connection \u2013 and I asked myself what truly makes me feel well. I\u2019m 55 years young, I take no chronic medications, and one of the key components is that I spend a lot of time outdoors.<\/p>\n I began exploring the research and soon became the founding chair of the Nature as Medicine Committee at the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. We\u2019re now bringing in clinicians and researchers from around the world who are prescribing nature just as we\u2019d prescribe any medication. When people reconnect with the outdoors, they reconnect with themselves \u2013 and with the planet, too.<\/p>\n The evidence is everywhere \u2013 even through the window <\/p>\n Within lifestyle medicine, we talk about connection \u2013 not just with people, but with our environment. Research shows that green space, tree-lined streets and even birdsong can lower heart rate, cortisol and blood pressure, while improving mood and cognition.<\/p>\n Ideally, yes, we\u2019d all get out into forests or national parks every day, but that\u2019s not realistic. The good news is that even viewing nature helps. One small study looked at patients recovering from gallbladder surgery: those with a window view of trees or flowers needed less pain medication and left hospital sooner than those facing a brick wall. Nature works \u2013 whether you\u2019re standing in a forest or simply looking at one.<\/p>\n Prescribing the outdoors <\/p>\n One of my patients in her mid-twenties was struggling with depression, trauma and type 2 diabetes. My prescription was simple \u2013 get outdoors and move your body. She began hiking, first in small bursts, then longer trails. She described her backpack as being full of both equipment and emotional weight \u2013 and as she hiked, that load grew lighter. Over time, she lost weight, reversed her diabetes, came off medication and transformed her life. It all started with a few steps outside.<\/p>\n The research shows that just twenty minutes a day \u2013 the \u2018nature dose\u2019 \u2013 can reduce stress and regulate cortisol. Step outside early in the morning, let that light set your circadian rhythm, and use all your senses: five things you see, four you hear, three you touch, two you smell, one you taste. It\u2019s mindfulness, but greener.<\/p>\n Dr Melissa Sundermann will speak on Nutrition, Fasting & Metabolism at the Global Longevity Summit 2025 in Geneva (28\u201330 October). Her session will explore how nutrition and fasting protocols influence metabolic pathways linked to aging \u2013 and how clinicians can apply dietary interventions to promote metabolic flexibility and extend healthspan. Click\u00a0HERE\u00a0<\/a>to find out more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corewell Health\u2019s Melissa Sundermann on nutrition, fasting and finding lasting longevity in the great outdoors. 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