Study Finds, Delaying Breakfast Makes Unmood

Illustration of woman reading a newspaper (Pexels / Vlada Karpovich)

JAKARTA - Besides sleeping, breakfast is also an important thing. Why? Because breakfast is beneficial for physical and mental health. For physical health, people who are accustomed to breakfast every day have a balanced body metabolism. Plus, breakfast can suppress the soaring appetite during the day.

For your mental health, according to studies, for adults delaying breakfast makes the mood messy. The study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine and written by Johanna Wilson of the University of Tasmania, found that a healthy diet is linked to mental health.

“Mood disorders like depression can have a huge impact on individuals, friends and family, and society at large. It is important to consider the various factors that can contribute to mental disorders", said Wilson, quoted by Psypost.

Wilson and team were interested in finding out whether eating during the day was associated with depression risk. The study analyzed data from the Australian Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) since 1985 when participants were between the ages of 7 and 15.

Data from 1,000 participants contained reports of lunch hours when they were 26-36 years old and five years later when they were 31-41 years old. Participants also completed assessments about mood disorders such as depression, persistent depressive disorder or dysthymia, and bipolar disorder.

This study found that those who skip or postpone breakfast are more likely to experience a messy mood than those who have regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours.

Wilson explained that this finding is indeed in the case of general rather than the individual. That skipping or delaying breakfast can cause a messy mood. And maybe it could be the other way around, not having breakfast because of a chaotic mood when starting the day or waking up.

Aspects that influence, according to Wilson, could be due to hormonal influences and circadian rhythms of each person.

"This relationship may be a two-way street, and pre-existing preferences for certain diets due to individual chronobiological traits must be considered", explained Wilson.

Chronobiology is a biological rhythm mechanism based on both physiological, genetic, and biological behavior. A decade before Wilson and colleagues' research there were studies examining the chronotype or biological clock and its relationship to depression levels.

This research was conducted by Maria Paz Hidalgo, MP., MD., Ph.D., and colleagues published in the journal Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience and published in the Wiley Online Library. The study involved three categories of participants: evening people (71 people), intermediate people (58), and morning people (71).

The nighttime circadian typology was the main factor associated with the high-risk ratio for depressive symptoms compared to morning and intermediate chronotypes. Supporting factors for the appearance of symptoms include gender and age. The younger the age, the risk of depressive symptoms decreased by 3.3 percent.

This study also found a tendency to be more pessimistic in the evening person. Views on life tend to be negative and are reluctant to start the day in the morning.

If your view is the opposite of pessimistic when you start the day, what is your favorite breakfast menu?