Everyone has reasons to celebrate, and indulging in adult beverages is a common way to do so. However, if your body is your machine, it deserves to be treated with utmost care and quality nutrition to optimize performance, especially pre- or mid-season. As an athlete, there are metabolic, recovery, and performance-related reasons for NOT overindulging in acute, or chronic alcohol consumption. No matter what season you're in, it's your season to be wise. Here are some details why alcohol may inhibit your performance:

Lengthy but informative article on the common types of medications taken by each gender, and the potential side effects as well as the possible hindrances to your fitness and wellness goals. Well worth reading!

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/drugs-fitness-progress

Quick read for you about the quiet sabotage that chronic sleep inadequacy can wreak in our bodies. Never underestimate the power of eight hours! Enjoy! 

http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/how-sleep-deprivation-fries-your-hormones-your-immune-system-and-your-brain#.U-3t9TLJaAA.facebook

Could one of your athletes suffer from a gut permeability issue? What exactly does this mean and how can it occur? Athletes (translate: all) who participate in multiple bouts of intense exercise (both endurance and strength/power exercise sessions) can be susceptible to changing the quality/spacing of the tight junctions in the intestines and altering the gut microbiome  (called dysbiosis) (Vanuytsel et al, 2014). These junctions (along with gut flora) are responsible for regulating the size of the molecules escaping our digestive system and entering the blood stream. Called leaky gut syndrome, it’s when larger-than-normal molecules are permitted to be released from the gut, and problems can manifest in any number of performance-inhibiting ways. Therefore, an athlete’s regular training regimen, and especially overtraining, can likely be bad for the gut, and in turn, bad for the athlete’s body if left unmanaged. Add the compounding factor of academic or psychological stress associated with student athletes, and this, too, can change the balance in gut flora and permeability, putting athletes at risk for performance limiting problems and may increase vulnerability to injury because of potential inflammation.