Kicking a bad habit is easier said than done, especially if it is one acquired over a long time.

Addressing that, the Singapore General Hospital has started Life Centre (Lifestyle Improvement and Fitness Enhancement), a one-stop place for people with lifestyle-related problems.

It opened last October and was officially opened on Monday.

It is the first hospital-based centre in Singapore that helps people kick damaging habits and ways of thinking that keep them in poor health.

Recognising the many obstacles involved in 'lifestyle change', the SGH centre houses psychologists, exercise specialists, doctors and dietitians who create an environment for people to learn to manage stress and take better care of themselves.

The centre has a fully-equipped gym and a roomy kitchen for cooking classes and dietary demonstrations.

Therapy rooms with comfortable couches look out into the garden.

The centre draws on the hospital's extensive range of services. SGH's eating disorders programme - run by psychiatrist Dr Lee Ee Lian and her team - is located there, as is the obesity unit headed by senior diabetes and metabolism consultant Tham Kwang Mei, and an allied health team headed by Dr Celia Tan, who is the centre's director.

Consultant psychiatrist Lee Huei Yen, who is in the eating disorders team, calls the centre 'a dream come true'.

'We used to have a hard time operating the day programme out of the ward,' she said. An important part of treating people with eating disorders involves 're-feeding' or teaching them. Now, patients can attend cooking sessions in the centre's kitchen and eat there as well.

'It's more natural than eating in the wards, with the nurses watching. We eat with them here, we chat with them and try to make it as normal as possible,' Dr Lee Huei Yen said.

Doctors worried at first about having obese and anorexic patients in the same space. But the two groups did co-exist. 'We just had to make sure weighing scales or diet products were kept out of sight of the people with eating disorders,' Dr Lee said.

They also noticed that some anorexic patients felt that the overweight people looked 'happier'.

More than a prescription
With deep-rooted lifestyle problems, it is not enough to send the patient home with a prescription.

'At the centre, we follow up on their progress and it makes for a closer relationship,' Dr Tan said.

The key ideas are a continuing relationship, a holding environment and the reassurance of coming back to see the same team of people, who closely monitor patients' progress.

For instance, Dr Tham sees a patient with an obesity problem and refers him to an exercise physiotherapist who starts him on a regime. There's no need for referrals, no waiting for months.

'Someone with a heart problem or high cholesterol may feel very scared to work out in a normal gym where a regular trainer does not know his condition,' Dr Tan said.

She said the grossly overweight, especially, have powerful fears about exercise and 'need support and partial hand-holding'.

The centre also has a programme called Diabex, designed to help people with diabetes keep their weight and blood sugar under control.

It also runs fitness enhancement programmes for all ages, with a special focus on the elderly who want to keep fit.

Since the centre began informal operations last October, it has seen a total of 453 attendances a month.

The centre also hosts public talks and workshops on healthy living.

'The main idea is to move towards prevention because that saves a lot of money in the long run,' Dr Tan said.

E-mail: sshefali@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Mind Your Body supplement on Feb 20, 2008.