Skipping Breakfast is Associated with Shorter Sleep Duration in Medical Students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2024.2062

Keywords:

Students Medical, Breakfast, Sleep Quali, Sleep Duration, Lifestyle, Circadian rhythm, Epidemiological study, Cross-sectional study, Health outcomes, Dietary habits, Educational interventions, Behavioral patterns, Sleep disturbances, Neurobehavioral function, Clinical assessment, PSQI, Modifiable factors, Public health, Self-reported data, Sleep

Abstract

Background: Breakfast skipping is common in young adults, including medical students. Poor sleep quality is also common in medical students. Sleep quality and duration are important determinants of health and wellbeing. The aim of the study is to explore the novel association between medical students’ frequency of breakfast consumption with sleep quality and duration.

Methods: Year 3 medical students completed a survey at the end of 2018. Data collection included demographic information, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and breakfast consumption in the month before their end-of-year clinical assessment.

Results: The response rate for the survey was 76.6% (216/282). Forty-five percent of medical students skipped breakfast at least once in an average week and 56.9% of students had poor sleep quality (as defined by PSQI scores > 5). There was a statistically significant association between a higher frequency of breakfast skipping and shorter sleep duration (Kendall’s tau-b, P = 0.012). Regression analysis also showed that breakfast frequency had a statistically significant impact on sleep duration (P = 0.048).

Conclusion: Breakfast skipping is common in medical students. Furthermore, breakfast skipping is significantly associated with a shorter sleep duration. This knowledge could empower medical students to optimize their routines for better sleep and general health.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

O'Neil C, Byrd-Bredbenner C, Hayes D, Jana L, Klinger S, Stephenson-Martin S. The role of breakfast in health: definition and criteria for a quality breakfast. J Am Diet Assoc. 2014;114(12 Suppl):S8-26.

Deshmukh-Taskar P, Nicklas TA, Radcliffe JD, O'Neil CE, Liu Y. The relationship of breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumed with overweight/obesity, abdominal obesity, other cardiometabolic risk factors and the metabolic syndrome in young adults. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): 1999–2006. Public Health Nutr. 2013;16(11):2073-82.

Qin L, Li J, Wang Y, Wang J, Xu J, Kaneko T. The effects of nocturnal life on endocrine circadian patterns in healthy adults. Life Sci. 2003;73(19):2467-75.

Sun J, Yi H, Liu Z, Wu Y, Bian J, Wu Y, et al. Factors associated with skipping breakfast among Inner Mongolia Medical students in China. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:42.

Javaid A, Munir I. Breakfast skipping and its effects on emotional and academic behaviour of a group of Saudi medical students. J Nutr Food Sci. 2018;8(6):1-4.

Ackuaku-Dogbe EM, Abaidoo B. Breakfast eating habits among medical students. Ghana Med J. 2014;48(2):66-70.

Girardeau G, Lopes-Dos-Santos V. Brain neural patterns and the memory function of sleep. Science. 2021;374(6567):560-4.

Peigneux P, Fogel S, Smith C. Memory Processing in Relation to Sleep. In: Kryger, M, Roth T, Dement WC, editors. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. 6th ed. Elsevier; 2017:229-238.

Lewis PA, Knoblich G, Poe G. How Memory Replay in Sleep Boosts Creative Problem-Solving. Trends Cogn Sci. 2018;22(6):491-503.

Van Dongen HPA, Maislin G, Mullington JM, Dinges DF. The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep. 2003;26(2):117-26.

Gruber R, Cassoff J. The interplay between sleep and emotion regulation: conceptual framework empirical evidence and future directions. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2014;16(11):500.

Buysse DJ, Angst J, Gamma A, Ajdacic V, Eich D, Rössler W. Prevalence, course, and comorbidity of insomnia and depression in young adults. Sleep. 2008;31(4):473-80.

Pigeon WR, Pinquart M, Conner K. Meta-analysis of sleep disturbance and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. J Clin Psychiatry. 2012;73(9):e1160-7.

Kecklund LG, Axelsson J. Health consequences of shift work and insufficient sleep. BMJ. 2016;355:i5210.

Falloon K, Bhoopatkar H, Moir F, Nakatsuji M, Wearn A. Sleep well to perform well: the association between sleep quality and medical student performance in a high-stakes clinical assessment. Sleep Adv. 2022;3(1):zpac019.

Azad MC, Fraser K, Rumana N, et al. Sleep disturbances among medical students: a global perspective. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015;11(1):69-74.

Seoane HA, Moschetto L, Orliacq F, Orliacq J, Serrano E, Cazenave MI, et al. Sleep disruption in medicine students and its relationship with impaired academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. 2020;53:101333.

Li L, Wang Y, Wang S, Zhang L, Li L, X D, et al. Prevalence of sleep disturbances in Chinese university students: a comprehensive meta-analysis. J Sleep Res. 2018;27(3):e12648.

Rao W, Li W, Qi H, Hong L, Chen C, Li C, et al. Sleep quality in medical students: a comprehensive meta-analysis of observational studies. Sleep Breath. 2020;24(3):1151-65.

Kant AK, Graubard BI. Association of self-reported sleep duration with eating behaviors of American adults: NHANES 2005–2010. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;100(3):938-47.

Kim S, DeRoo LA, Sandler DP. Eating patterns and nutritional characteristics associated with sleep duration. Public Health Nutr. 2011;14(5):889-95.

Gill S, Panda S. A amartphone app reveals erratic diurnal eating patterns in humans that can be modulated for health benefits. Cell Metab. 2015;22(5):789-98.

Garaulet M, Gómez-Abellán P. Timing of food intake and obesity: A novel association. Physiol Behav. 2014;134:44-50.

Moir F, Patten B, Yielder J, Sohn CS, Maser B, Frank E. Trends in medical students’ health over 5 years: Does a wellbeing curriculum make a difference? Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2023;69(3):675-88.

Gwin JA, Leidy HJ. Breakfast consumption augments appetite, eating behavior, and exploratory markers of sleep quality compared with skipping breakfast in healthy young adults. Curr Dev Nutr. 2018;2(11):nzy074.

Reutrakul S, Hood MM, Crowley SJ, Morgan MK, Teodori M, Knutson KL. The relationship between breakfast skipping, chronotype, and glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Chronobiol Int. 2014;31(1):64-71.

Xu S, Akioma M, Yuan Z. Relationship between circadian rhythm and brain cognitive functions. Front Optoelectron. 2021;14(3):278-87.

Smith RP, Easson C, Lyle SM, Kapoor R, Donnelly CP, Davidson EJ, et al. Gut microbiome diversity is associated with sleep physiology in humans. PLoS One. 2019;14(10): e0222394.

Berry SE, Valdes AM, Drew DA, Asnicar F, Mazidid M, Wolf J, et al. Human postprandial responses to food and potential for precision nutrition. Nat Med. 2020;26(6):964–73.

Takagi H, Hari Y, Nakashima K, Kuno T, Ando T. Meta-analysis of relation of skipping breakfast with heart disease. Am J Cardiol. 2019;124(6):978-86.

Rong S, Snetselaar LG, Xu G, Sun Y, Liu B, Wallace RB, et al. Association of skipping breakfast with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;73(16):2025-32.

Witbracht M, Keim NL, Forester S, Widaman A, Laugero K. Female breakfast skippers display a disrupted cortisol rhythm and elevated blood pressure. Physiol Behav. 2015;140:215-21.

Park S, Rim SJ, Lee JH. Associations between dietary behaviours and perceived physical and mental health status among Korean adolescents. Nutr Diet. 2018;75(5):488-93.

Sichieri, R, Everhart JE, Roth H. A prospective study of hospitalization with gallstone disease among women: role of dietary factors, fasting period, and dieting. Am J Public Health. 1991;81(7):880-4.

de Cabo R, Mattson MP. Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(26):2541-51.

Lowe DA, Wu N, Rohdin-Bibby L, Moore AH, Kelly N, Liu YE et al. Effects of time-restricted eating on weight loss and other metabolic parameters in women and men with overweight and obesity. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(11):1491-9.

The image depicts a tired-looking medical professional, likely a student or resident, resting their head on their hands with a weary expression. Surrounding them are symbols of time and exhaustion: a large clock showing different times, an alarm clock, and a crescent moon indicating nighttime. In front of the person is a plate with a donut and a cup of coffee, suggesting a quick, possibly unhealthy meal. The background includes calming elements like leaves, and a heartbeat line, emphasizing the stress and fatigue associated with demanding medical schedules. The overall color scheme is soft, with shades of blue and green, highlighting a somber and reflective mood.

Downloads

Published

2024-06-12 — Updated on 2024-07-09

How to Cite

Bhoopatkar, H., Sharma, S., Moir, F., Nakatsuji, M., Wearn, A., & Falloon, K. (2024). Skipping Breakfast is Associated with Shorter Sleep Duration in Medical Students. International Journal of Medical Students, 12(2), 178–184. https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2024.2062

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2024)

Section

Original Article

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Harsh Bhoopatkar, Shivani Sharma, Fiona Moir, Miriam Nakatsuji, Andrew Wearn, Karen Falloon

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site; with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
    2. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
    4. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
    5. The Author represents and warrants that:
      1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
      2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
      3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
      4. the Work has not previously been published;
      5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
      6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
    6. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from the Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Enforcement of copyright

The IJMS takes the protection of copyright very seriously.

If the IJMS discovers that you have used its copyright materials in contravention of the license above, the IJMS may bring legal proceedings against you seeking reparation and an injunction to stop you using those materials. You could also be ordered to pay legal costs.

If you become aware of any use of the IJMS' copyright materials that contravenes or may contravene the license above, please report this by email to contact@ijms.org

 

Infringing material

If you become aware of any material on the website that you believe infringes your or any other person's copyright, please report this by email to contact@ijms.org