Influence of Having Breakfast on Happiness and Attention-Concentration among High School Students

Background: Healthful nutrition has a positive connection with both physical and mental health. Breakfast is often considered as the most important meal of the day. Despite the benefits, skipping the morning meal is highly prevalent among adolescents. Healthy eating has an effect on happiness and concentration but a firm connection has not been established. Breakfast skipping can be a factor and a gap in the literature exists in this regard. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between eating breakfast, happiness and attention concentration among high school students. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a convenient sampling strategy was used to select the students from an International school located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 29-item Oxford Happiness Questionnaire along with demographic variables was employed as research instrument. Chi-square test, student t-test and ANOVA were used to compare different categorical variables. Results: The overall Happiness mean score was 3.621 ± 0.6637. Students who were regular at having breakfast every day had higher happiness mean scores. Overall, 40% of the participants reported to have decreased concentration/attentiveness during the first 4 lectures at school. Majority (55%) of the breakfast skippers were distracted in the lessons. A regular breakfast eating habit was found to be significantly associated with happiness (p=0.04) and concentration during lectures (p=0.04) respectively. Majority of the students had insufficient physical activity (72%) and had experienced stress (88%) in the last six months respectively. The prevalence of being overweight/ obese among breakfast skippers was higher (39%) than was in breakfast consumers (26%). Conclusion: Eating breakfast was associated with higher happiness scores and better concentration among high school students. An alarmingly high prevalence of stress among students is a cause of concern. Schools should start breakfast eating programs and promote physical activity to reduce stress. Future studies are needed to explore the factors associated with stress.