Lifestyle Medicine as a Foundation for Circadian Medicine: A Proposed Framework for Clinical Translation
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Circadian disruption is increasingly recognized as a modifiable contributor to cardiometabolic disease. While advances in chronobiology have established the importance of biological timing, translation into clinical practice remains limited. Lifestyle Medicine (LM) and Circadian Medicine (CM) have developed independently despite overlap in their interventions, disease targets, and philosophy. The framework includes evidence from chronobiology, LM, sleep medicine, chrononutrition, chronopharmacology, and implementation literature. Building upon circadian taxonomies, the PARS framework (Phase, Amplitude, Regularity, and Synchronization) is proposed as a model for structuring circadian assessment within LM’s six-pillar framework. Each LM pillar functions as circadian input, providing a rationale for incorporating temporal assessment without establishing a separate specialty or additional lifestyle pillar. The PARS framework organizes circadian assessment around four properties of circadian physiology that apply across nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connection, and avoidance of risky substances. Evidence supporting implementation is strongest for sleep timing and time-restricted eating, while evidence for other domains ranges from emerging to plausible. CM may be translated into practice by leveraging LM’s behavioral counseling model, competency framework, and infrastructure. The PARS framework is a proposed model to guide feasibility testing, clinical validation, and implementation research rather than a validated protocol.
Author: Deuel, Kristen
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7170035636
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