Breakfast and Snacks: Associations with Cognitive Failures, Minor Injuries, Accidents and Stress

Abstract

One strategy for examining effects of nutrients on cognitive function is to initially investigate foods that contain many different nutrients. If effects are demonstrated with these foods then further studies can address the role of specific nutrients. Breakfast foods (e.g., cereals, dairy products and fruit) provide many important nutrients and consumption of breakfast has been shown to be associated with beneficial effects on cognitive function. Isolating effects of specific constituents of breakfast has proved more difficult and it is still unclear what impact breakfast has on real-life performance. The present study provided initial information on associations between breakfast consumption and cognitive failures and accidents. A second aim was to examine associations between consumption of snacks which are often perceived as being unhealthy (chocolate, crisps and biscuits). A sample of over 800 nurses took part in the study. The results showed that frequency of breakfast consumption (varied breakfasts: 62% cereal) was associated with lower stress, fewer cognitive failures, injuries and accidents at work. In contrast, snacking on crisps, chocolate and biscuits was associated with higher stress, more cognitive failures and more injuries outside of work. Further research requires intervention studies to provide a clearer profile of causality and underlying mechanisms.

Breakfast eating habits and its association with mental wellbeing and mindful attention awareness among university students of Pune district, Maharashtra, India

“…Mental wellbeing screening included two scales, Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL-10) and this scoring method was based on the likert 4 point scale where individual can score minimum score of 10 and a maximum score of 40. 7 It basically measured the anxiety and depression among participant. The second scale was Mindful Attention Awareness Test (MASS), this scale assessed a core characteristic of dispositional mindfulness namely, attention to what is taking place in the present.…”

“…7,14 Questionnaires were pretested on a sample size 30 after taking consent of the subject. The shortcomings were looked upon and changes were incorporated in the questionnaire.…”

Breakfast, attachment styles and health of female university students

“…Students who consumed more vegetable and also consumed more fruits had good health and they performed better academic tasks as compared to those who did not consume these foods. A study was conducted by Chaplin and Smith (2011) in London with two aims. First was to investigate the relationship of taking the morning meal with the frequency of accidents, effect of first meal on performance and to check the effect of skipping morning meal and its effects on cognition.…”

An investigation of cognitive failures and its related factors in industry employees in Qom Province, Iran, in 2016

“…Cognitive failure is one of the causes of accidents in the workplace. A cognitive error can cause an accident to occur due to lack of attention which can lead to injuries or only minor injuries (7). In a study on navy personnel, Day et al indicated that the probability of the occurrence of accidents is higher in individuals with more cognitive failures (8).…”