Mental health research has grown rapidly over the past decade, becoming a priority area for many countries across the globe. Moreover, the critical role that lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity and nutrition, play in the prevention and management of mental health conditions as well as promoting holistic wellbeing is now widely accepted. As such, there is a growing number of lifestyle behavioral researchers focusing on mental health populations and/or outcomes, and an increasing emphasis of multidisciplinary collaboration between the mental health and lifestyle behavior fields. Moreover, the emergence of dedicated funding streams and targeted calls for research will see the continued advancement of this area of research and translation into clinical practice and public health initiatives.

It is widely accepted that population health is a product of the environments and systems that we live within. The food we consume, the activity we undertake, the broader health-related behaviours that we practice are all influenced by a complex web of interconnected drivers, not limited to our social connections, built environment, the commercial determinants, political factors, and the wider determinants of health.