Lifestyle medicine for anxiety symptoms: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Lifestyle medicine (LM) is gaining increasing attention as a treatment option for anxiety, but the current state of evidence has not yet been systematically examined. Six electronic databases were systematically searched from inception to February 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of multicomponent LM interventions on anxiety symptoms with either care-as-usual, waitlist, no intervention, or attention control group on anxiety symptoms were identified. A total of 53 RCTs with 18,894 participants were included for qualitative synthesis, in which 45 RCTs with data available were included for meta-analysis. Multicomponent LM intervention was significantly more effective than the control groups in reducing anxiety symptoms at immediate posttreatment (d = 0.19, p