Lifestyles can have a significant impact on our moods, how we feel, and our quality of life. There is a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma in the relationship between our mood and lifestyle, as it can be difficult to determine which influences the other more. Mental health impacts thoughts, feelings, actions and influences our ability to handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Does our mood impact our lifestyle habits or do our lifestyle habits impact our mood? Let’s look at some key lifestyle factors and how they are impacted by mood.

Increasing exercise and physical activity may bring an array of thoughts and emotions to your mind. You may think of memories from high school gym class, or how you spent all last year doing cardio to prepare for your cousin's wedding and hated Every. Single. Second. Or maybe you can’t help but think about how you feel everyone is looking at you in yoga class. Whatever your emotions may be towards exercise, it can be hard to separate exercising from the desire to see body changes. Instead of focusing on body composition changes, we invite you to the idea of joyful movement. Everyone, regardless of body size, age, athletic ability, or gender, will feel increased motivation to move their body when it is enjoyable. Let’s walk through a week of examples on how joyful movement could work for you!

Nutrition could be the missing link for yourself or the youth athlete in your life to take sports performance to the next level. Our body needs nutrients to provide sustained energy for training and performance, which is why proper nutrition sets athletes up for success for preparation, training, and recovery. Today’s outline of a nutrition day in the life of a youth athlete is an example, not to be taken as a one size fits all but can be a great outline for how different nutrients and nutrient timing should be supported throughout the day.

Doesn’t it just seem like in the blink of an eye, May turns into September? Amidst shopping for notebooks, backpacks, and clothes; nutrition can sometimes be the last thing on our minds. To feel confident you can attack the new school year with a fueled mind, body, and spirit, here are our favorite tips and tricks for back-to-school nutrition.