{"id":60830,"date":"2021-12-22T03:53:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=60830"},"modified":"2021-12-22T03:53:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T08:53:49","slug":"secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nI taught teenagers economics for almost 40 years until my retirement a few years ago. When I started teaching in the 1970s, I used to refer to the last period on a Friday afternoon as the \u201cgraveyard slot\u201d. It was hard to get any work out of the students, who just wanted to go home for the weekend.<\/p>\n

By the time I retired, things had changed. There were now five \u201cgraveyard slots\u201d on the weekly timetable. They occurred daily, and all were the period before the mid-morning break. By this time, many pupils were hungry \u2013 and challenging to teach.<\/p>\n

After my teaching career, I began a PhD. I conducted a study of the\u00a0breakfast habits<\/a>\u00a0of secondary school pupils in Northern Ireland. I found that a significant proportion of pupils were not eating an adequate breakfast \u2013 and that there was a link between a lack of sleep and skipping breakfast.<\/p>\n

Going without breakfas<\/strong>t<\/h4>\n

My research was carried out during the summer term in 2021 and included almost 2,500 pupils from 18 secondary schools in Northern Ireland. The pupils varied in age from 11 to 16 years. I found that one in three pupils had nothing to eat or drink (other than water) before leaving home for school.<\/p>\n

But because some pupils have breakfast during their journey to school, and others eat breakfast on arrival at school, it would be unreasonable to define any pupil who left home without eating breakfast as a \u201cbreakfast skipper\u201d. With this in mind, I defined a breakfast skipper as any pupil who did not consume at least 400 calories within four hours of getting up. This even allowed food at the mid-morning break to be counted as a late breakfast.<\/p>\n

The NHS recommends that teenagers consume between 2,000 and around 3,000 calories a day (depending on age and gender), with about\u00a0400 calories<\/a>\u00a0for breakfast. There can be little doubt that fewer than 400 calories within four hours of waking is insufficient.<\/p>\n

I found that 54% of pupils in my sample were having less than 400 calories within four hours of waking. In the case of girls in years nine to 11 (ages 13 to 16), the figure rose to 65%.<\/p>\n

\n

Breakfast helps to\u00a0stave off hunger<\/a>\u00a0and reduces snacking on less healthy foods later in the day. Breakfast helps get the day off to a good start by providing some of the energy and nutrients the body needs for good health \u2013 such as starchy carbohydrates, fibre, B vitamins, calcium and iron.<\/p>\n

The benefits of breakfast are not just limited to health.\u00a0A recent study<\/a>\u00a0showed that habitual school-day breakfast consumption among adolescents is linked with better GCSE results, including in English and maths.<\/p>\n

Not getting enough sleep<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to their breakfast habits, the students in my survey gave information about their usual bedtime and time of rising the following morning.<\/p>\n

The average time between going to bed and getting up the following day was 8 hours 35 minutes, with only 30 minutes difference between the average for year seven and eight pupils (11 to 13 year olds) and year nine to 11 pupils (13 to 16 year olds).<\/p>\n

Just 10% of the pupils who spent fewer than eight hours in bed had consumed at least 400 calories at home before leaving for school, and only one-third had consumed at least 400 calories within four hours of rising. When pupils spent more than nine hours a night in bed, these numbers rose. I found that 17% had at least 400 calories before heading off to school and 64% by four hours after getting up. This suggests a link between sleep and breakfast habits.<\/p>\n

Of course, the best solution would be to persuade teenagers to go to bed earlier, spend more time in bed, and eat a hearty breakfast before leaving for school. However, a second best \u2013 and more realistic \u2013 solution is to accept that little can be done about bedtime, and serve the children a nutritious \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d breakfast on arrival at school.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Food and Research Action Center<\/a>\u00a0in Washington DC has conducted a lot of research on this topic. Their research shows that breakfast in the classroom results in increased standardised test scores, concentration, and fosters a sense of community.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Peter Richard Simpson is Postgraduate Researcher in Nutritional Epidemiology at the University of Leeds<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I taught teenagers economics for almost 40 years until my retirement a few years ago. When I started teaching in the 1970s, I used to refer to the last period on a Friday afternoon as the \u201cgraveyard slot\u201d. It was hard to get any work out of the students, who just wanted to go home […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[428332],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-60830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-nutriution"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSecondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I taught teenagers economics for almost 40 years until my retirement a few years ago. When I started teaching in the 1970s, I used to refer to the last period on a Friday afternoon as the \u201cgraveyard slot\u201d. It was hard to get any work out of the students, who just wanted to go home […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":705,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/breakfast.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"nutriution\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/\",\"name\":\"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/breakfast.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/breakfast.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/breakfast.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":454},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"I taught teenagers economics for almost 40 years until my retirement a few years ago. When I started teaching in the 1970s, I used to refer to the last period on a Friday afternoon as the \u201cgraveyard slot\u201d. It was hard to get any work out of the students, who just wanted to go home […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning","datePublished":"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/"},"wordCount":705,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg","keywords":["nutriution"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/","name":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-12-22T08:53:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/breakfast.jpeg","width":680,"height":454},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/secondary-school-pupils-are-skipping-breakfast-with-consequences-for-their-health-and-learning\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Secondary school pupils are skipping breakfast \u2013 with consequences for their health and learning"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60832,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60830\/revisions\/60832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60830"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}