Correlation Between Breakfast, Alertness, And Mood

Correlation Between Eating Breakfast and Feelings of Alertness and Mood
Kayla Etherton
Northwest Missouri State University

Abstract
The purpose of this survey was to examine the effects of eating breakfast on feelings of alertness and mood. Participants in this study included 19 Northwest Missouri State University students (4 male and 15 female) from Dr. Francis’ 9:35, Tuesday-Thursday,Introduction to Psychology Experimentation class. Our hypothesis was that consuming a healthy breakfast increases feelings of alertness and mood. Mood was defined as a temporary state of mind or feeling. We defined alertness as the process of paying close and continuous attention. Upon analyzing our data we found that when individuals did not consume breakfast there was statistically significantevidence that not consuming breakfast has a negative effect on alertness and mood. However there were no significant findings that consuming breakfast had an impact on alertness and mood. There were a few limitations for this survey. This survey was limited to a small sample size of 19 individuals. In addition, due to time restrictions our survey was short in length and not greatly detailed.Effects of Eating Breakfast on feelings of Alertness and Mood
Children in America are in essence force-fed breakfast in the mornings because in the eyes of adults, it is for their own good. Breakfast programs have been spread across the public school system of the United States since the 1950’s. College students are encouraged to get up a few minutes early to eat breakfast on exam days. So why isthere such an emphasis placed on the first meal of the day? Is there truly any significance to eating before beginning the day’s activities?
The purpose of this study was to look at the relationship between eating breakfast or not eating breakfast and feelings of alertness and mood. There has been a lot of research that supports the pro-breakfast stance. It makes sense that when the body isreceiving nutrients, it will function better than it would without those nutrients. With the development of school breakfast programs in the United States in the 1950’s, the issue of breakfast has intrigued researchers. A study conducted by R.C. Hutchinson in as early as 1952 found that breakfast seemed to have an effect on early-morning productivity, even more so than any other meal during the day.
Aninvestigation conducted by Andrew P. Smith in 2010 concluded that the overall well-being of children is positively affected by consuming breakfast daily. When he compared his subjects that ate breakfast for two weeks to those that abstained from breakfast for two weeks, those that ate had better alertness, cognitive function, mood, and bowel functioning.
It is not simply a matter of whether ornot a person eats in the morning, but what the person is eating must also be taken into consideration. Some foods are obviously of greater nutritional value and will therefore have a greater effect on a person. For example, glucose is a very important nutrient to jump start a person in the morning. This is reflected in a study conducted by Neil Morria in which participants were either given aglucose drink in the morning or a saccharine placebo drink. The participants that consumed the glucose performed much better than the placebo group on a listening span test. Another study concluded that high protein breakfasts enhance human performance by increasing the body temperature of an individual, which was reflected in an increase in attention, alertness, and better mood (Yao-Chi Z, Shun-MinL, Guo-Liang X, Hui-Min S, & Jian-Cheng W, 2011).
Another study tested the effect of relatively small doses of caffeine on mood and performance in the morning. While the sample size only consisted of 19 subjects, there were stringent requirements to ensure that the subjects being tested were an adequate sample. The testing measures included several different tests that examined the effect...