Weekday breakfast habits and mood at the start of the school morning

Abstract

Background: Good nutrition, regular physical activity, and adequate sleep are important for promoting health. However, it is not well characterized how these lifestyle behaviours are associated with mood at the start of school days.

Aim: To identify the weekday health-related behaviours (breakfast intake, physical activity, and sleep) of Singaporean adolescents and explore their associations with mood at the beginning of the school morning.

Methods: 365 adolescents (52.3% boys, 47.7% girls) aged 14-19 years (M = 16.9, SD = 1.3 years) completed a survey set on breakfast habits, physical activity participation, sleep duration, and mood.

Results: More than one-third (38.6%) of participants never (15.0%) or irregularly (23.6%) consumed breakfast on weekdays. Adolescents consuming breakfast irregularly reported significantly higher negative mood scores than regular breakfast consumers (p = .002; d = .404). Almost two-thirds (64.1%) of adolescents did <60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on weekdays and reported lower positive morning mood scores than those who ≥60 min of MVPA (p = .014; d = .284). Although most (88.3%) adolescents slept <8 h each night, sleep duration was not related to either positive mood or negative mood.

Conclusion: The present study suggests that eating breakfast on a regular basis and completing for ≥60 min of weekday MVPA are useful behaviours to start school days in a better mood. Parents and health educators should recognise the importance of establishing these habits and support students by instigating practical approaches so they can achieve a regular breakfast intake and physical activity engagement.

Keywords: Breakfast; exercise; moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; moods; sleep.