Breakfast, Sleep and Exercise Linked to Better Stress Coping in College Students

College students who ate breakfast most mornings, slept at least six hours and exercised for 20 minutes or more tended to report handling stress better, according to a survey by researchers at Binghamton University. The study found associations, not cause and effect, so it can’t say the habits themselves made anyone more resilient.¹

The habits were linked to something psychologists call psychological flexibility. That is the ability to adjust your thoughts, emotions and behavior as circumstances change, in a balanced and constructive way. In practice, it means being able to step back, work through what you feel and then respond.²

That matters because flexibility appears to be one route to resilience, and the habits involved are everyday ones.²

“You might know someone who stays cool under pressure,” lead author Lina Begdache, an associate professor of health and wellness studies, said in the university’s announcement. “This person may still feel stressed, but they’re better able to manage it through psychological flexibility.”²

How the study worked

About 400 college students filled out an anonymous survey about their diet, sleep, exercise and other lifestyle habits.² Seoul Economic Daily reported that 401 students took part and that 58% of them were women.⁵

Because the study was a single survey of habits the students reported themselves, it shows which things tend to go together, not which one causes the other. ScienceDaily’s version of the announcement says plainly that the results are associations.¹ Everyone surveyed was a college student, so the findings may not apply to other age groups.

The paper appeared in the Journal of American College Health. Begdache wrote it with Jason Cherry, a former assistant professor of physical therapy, and former student Alexander J. Talkachov. It builds on Begdache’s earlier work linking high-quality diets to greater resilience.²

The habits linked to a more flexible mind

The specific cutoffs below come from the university’s press materials describing the study.²

• Breakfast, most days. Eating breakfast at least five times a week was associated with greater resilience, and psychological flexibility helped explain that link.²
• At least six hours of sleep. Students who slept fewer than six hours generally reported lower resilience and less flexibility.¹
• 20 minutes of movement. Exercise lasting 20 minutes or longer was associated with more psychological flexibility and better coping with stress.²

The other side of the ledger: frequent fast food and too little sleep were associated with psychological rigidity, meaning more trouble adjusting thoughts and behavior when circumstances change.¹

Discover Magazine’s coverage of the study reported the same links between everyday habits and resilience.⁴

Why flexibility sits in the middle

The study’s central idea is that diet and lifestyle help build flexibility, and flexibility in turn supports resilience. Begdache put it this way in the announcement: “diet and lifestyle don’t just make you resilient by themselves. They help you build the psychological flexibility, which, in turn, makes you a resilient person.”²

Identifying emotions is part of that flexibility. “Identifying your emotions sometimes helps you find the solution for these emotions,” she said.²