It doesn't matter if you're an elite athlete or you're simply training to be a better version of yourself.
Every day our thoughts, emotions and actions affect our physical health. This is especially true for endurance athletes. In fact, your physical health can be an indicator of how you feel about yourself as a person.
This isn't just limited to people working in fitness-related fields, it applies to anyone who works hard to improve their life. It can be a competitive endeavor, but there are two important things you need to consider when trying to reach this kind of success:
Your state of mind
Your nutrition
Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail:
- Your state of mind
When you're in a good mood, you generally feel better than you would if you were down or depressed. This is a simple concept, but you don't often think about how your mental state affects your physical health.
That's why I'm making the connection here. It's not that your mental state affects your performance... It's that your physical state directly impacts your emotional well-being and vice-versa.
Here are some examples:
Feeling depressed and anxious increases stress hormone levels in the body.
Feeling angry and upset causes an increase in blood pressure and heart rate.
Feeling confident and energetic is great for your overall health and well-being.
- Your nutrition
It turns out that the foods we eat can affect how we feel. It's often assumed that nutrition is only important when we're trying to lose weight, but the truth is that there are many other benefits.
For example, eating too much sugar can cause cravings and emotional changes that can disrupt your eating habits. Overdoing it on healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits can also have a similar effect.
The bottom line is that by improving your diet, you'll be improving your overall state of mind and your physical well-being.