The Impact of Stress on Student’s Diets
During times of stress, many individuals attempt to eliminate or reduce their negative mindsets by engaging in maladaptive behaviours. Oftentimes, this includes over-eating, indulging in unhealthy snacks, and/or neglecting to eat all together. It may be difficult for individuals to find a suitable balance in their diets when there is immense pressure on them to meet certain expectations, and this may be particularly true for students. For the majority of students, many are required to complete numerous assignments and exams while keeping up with extra-curricular activities and/or work demands. From time to time, the ability to effectively multi-task becomes increasingly strained and many students fall into a state of distress. Who has time to eat when you’re so stressed? Or, instead, why not eat the things that you love to help you cope? In either case, there are consequences for one’s health and well-being.
The aim of the present study is to compare the differences in eating behaviours of university students. More specifically, this study will examine the well-being of groups of “stress eaters”, “stress under-eaters”, and “stress stable-eaters” during stressful periods of the school year (e.g., examination periods). To do so, over 300 university students were given a battery of questionnaires assessing their diet habits and mental health. The questionnaires were completed at two points in time: (1) during a control period at least 4 weeks prior to exams, and (2) during examination week. Students were classified into one of three groups: stress eaters, stress under-eaters, and stress stable-eaters. At the designated periods of time, the energy levels (measure of calories intake), cognitive performance, and emotionally-driven eating habits of all individuals was assessed to determine whether they had increased, decreased, or had not changed.
Results revealed that 42.4% of students were stress eaters, 51.2% were stress under-eaters, and 6.4% were stress stable-eaters. When considering cognitive measures, stress eaters and stress under-eaters demonstrated similar cognitive restraint behaviours. Emotional eating scores were significantly higher in the stress eating group. Among those classified as stress stable-eaters, such students did not change in their energy levels; thus, they did not change in their overall calorie intake during both the control and examination periods. However, it is important to note that such students did display instances of both uncontrolled and emotional eating behaviours.
In sum, it seems as though the majority of students reduce their food intake (i.e., stress under-eaters) during stressful periods. This was indicated by a decrease in energy levels. Many students also over-eat, as indicated by an increase in calorie intake. A small portion of individuals maintain a consistent or stable diet during stressful situations (i.e., stress stable-eaters), as indicated by similar energy levels at both the control and examination periods. Interestingly, although their calorie intake did not change, these students demonstrated altered eating habits during exams. Thus, stress-inducing situations seem to impact every student by interfering with their general health and well-being. Eating behaviours change, oftentimes for the worse.
Source:
Fisunoğlu, M., Ilgaz, F., Açıkgöz, A., Türkoğlu, I., & Bekar, C. (2018). Eating behaviors of university students under examination stress: differences between stress eaters, stress under-eaters and stress stable-eaters. Clinical Nutrition, 37, S142
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