Psychology Studies Essay

School lunches are not the epitome of meals in the world. Raising the level of nutritional output would highly increase the healthiness of the student’s body. For example, if a child were to drink only water at school the health benefits would help that student, just by cutting out the sugar and the calorie intake. If schools were to serve grilled chicken instead of fried chicken, the student would not have that extreme carb intake just from the fried part alone. Chicken and vegetables should be the entrée for most school lunches, of course, this does not allow for a great variety of meals, but the healthiness of the students would increase over time and could possibly be the healthiest thing they eat that day, but the only thing that they eat at all. The poverty in Mississippi is abundant, which may mean that children do not get three square meals a day, but maybe only one, which is at school. Therefore, the best way to affect student’s healthiness is by putting good, nutritious, and energizing food on the plate in front of

As adults, they are also at an increased risk for coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) compared with those not overweight as adolescents.” It is important to help reduce the growing trend of obesity in children and young adults, as it has been documented in recent studies that children who are overweight tend to carry this problem with them into adulthood. Revitalizing the school lunch program would be an incremental place for the government to start revamping the obesity problems that they have caused in children. David Satcher stated in HEALTHY and Ready to Learn that, “Well-nourished students tend to be better students, whereas poorly nourished students tend to demonstrate weaker academic performance and score lower on standardized achievement tests. The majority of U.S. children are not eating a balanced, nutrient-rich diet. Inadequate consumption of key food groups deprives children of essential vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins necessary for optimum cognitive function (Tufts University School of Nutrition, 1995). Children who suffer from poor nutrition during the brains most formative years score much lower on tests of vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and general knowledge (Brown & Pollitt, 1996). In a 1989 study, 4th graders with the lowest amount

Cause 1: What causes the poor academic performance in children due to food insecurity is that they do not eat breakfast. The saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day is not just folk lore or a buzz phrase. The article by Sheila Terry and Kimberly Kerry, “Classroom Breakfast: Helping Maryland Students Make the Grade” published in the March 2000 issue of the Maryland State Department of Education, reports that “over a two-year period, classroom breakfast schools showed a 22% improvement in that score, [MSPAP test], compared to a 13% improvement for control schools

Nutrition plays an important role in the school environment. Unfortunately, proper nutrition has made its way in to the lunch room, yet has not had the impact that was originally projected. In the video, “Uproar Over School Lunches”, children’s protest to the lunch menu leads to a huge waste concern (ABC News, 2012). The video states that schools have reported a 50% increase in lunch waste (ABC News, 2012). This is huge! It begs to question, if the food is not being consumed, how effective is the nutrisous menu?

One of the ideas in the article, “Delaware schools offer breakfast to all students” indicates that, “Schools give the kids breakfast in the morning when they come into school is one of the most important things we do,” Carson said. In other words, schools have a responsibility to provide breakfast to students at school every morning. One reason for this is a close relationship between breakfast and study. According to an article, “Feeding kids is parents’ responsibility”, Howard Smith observes a totally different opinion that, “feeding your children before they go to school should be the responsibility of parents-not schools.” For example, eating low-glycemic and nutritious breakfast

The fifth article is called “Health and academic achievement” I chose this because it provides the evidence of link between healthy food and academic performance and it also provides additional resources to learn more about this topic and how the school, student and parents can take action. The sixth article I chose is titled “ Nutrition and its effects on academic performance, how can our schools improve?” I chose this because it’s an in-depth research and analysis of how food has an impact on academic performance. The seventh article is titled, “How does nutrition affect children's school performance? I chose this article because it shows food options in school menus and reason why providing nutritional contributes to better student performance in

Sidaner, Balaban, & Burlandy (2013), reveal that the SBP has helped in improving both the academic achievement and cognitive achievement of most students who are in schools that have implemented the program. For instance, the program has improved nutrition of the children which in return has enhanced their cognition. There is a lot of literature that has talked about the effect of eating breakfast through the SBP on the nutrition outcomes as well as academic performance. On the other hand, some studies have revealed that lack of there is some vitamins and minerals that students in some schools that are not part of the SBP program lack, which is essential in the human body (Abotsi, 2013). Lack of these nutrients may have negative impacts on

Overall in-class behavior is improved when breakfast is eaten. A six week study was done where the school children ate two hundred sixty-seven calories at breakfast. The results showed that those who had eaten those calories were less likely to get off task and participated more (Aldophus). Breakfast has been known to account for more than fifty percent of the body’s oxygen consumption. After sleeping and fasting through the night, the body needs glucose for its fuel. Breakfast provides the body with that needed glucose allowing glycolysis (oxidation of glucose) to happen having an effect on in-class behavior (Hoyland). Eating breakfast supplies the body with fuel that provides the brain with oxygen, keeping our body’s more alert and on task.

Nutrition plays a significant role in children’s functioning. Children who grow up in low-income homes are more likely to eat foods with a lower nutritional value, which can even affect them while still in the womb. Children coming to school in the morning already hungry will distract their minds from learning and their brains will not be able to function. It is proven that poor nutrition at breakfast affects gray matter mass in children’s brains (Taki, 2010). Skipping breakfast negatively affects students’ academic achievement by increasing absenteeism, as well as hurting their cognition abilities. Students will have more trouble

Family life did a study in 1997 and discovered that the score of standard mathematics of students who ate breakfast was 13 points higher than the students who didn’t. (Logos)

As scholars are constantly reminded to eat a healthy portion of breakfast before testing, most scholars find themselves wondering, “Would eating breakfast really improve my performance?” According to many psychologists, consuming breakfast may have benefits in performance, but to an extent. However, some have also deduced that breakfasts may also harm the performance of scholars. Nonetheless, scholars who eat a healthy breakfast seem to have higher energy levels and ability than those who did not because of the nutrients consumed and absorbed by the body and mind. Consuming breakfasts would have beneficial effects on learning, to an extent; however, the different types of breakfasts could also have detrimental effects as well. The goal of this research is to determine not if breakfasts improve academic performance, but by how much? In addition, to the fact that there are possible “side effects” to this method of improvement, which leads to ask, are all breakfasts healthy? Scholars eating breakfast in order to improve performance may be possible for academic performance. However, if scholars believe and reason over the fact that eating breakfast does improve academic performance, then the effects of school behavior would be tested. Consuming a breakfast does provide nutrients for the body and mind. However, the nutrients provided could only benefit the body and mind to such a limit. Then, there is also the

Many studies and research have found that there is indeed a connection between being overweight and poor performance in one’s academics (Meeusen S47-S48). Current research and studies suggest that a child’s brain development and academic performance is affected by their physical conditioning (Meeusen S48). Meaning that the more physically active one is during their childhood, the better they might be at developing their brain and excelling at school. Nutrition also has the ability to affect one’s brain development. There have been many studies done concerning the benefits of breakfast and how skipping the most important meal of the day can have many consequences. Breakfast in essence, is considered the foundation meal for one’s brain, so it can learn, pay attention (especially in work or class), and also remember experiences (Arden 93). A study was done on children aged 8-11 to find out how breakfast influenced their complex mental functions (Meeusen S48). The children were to solve simple math problems after fasting over-night and again after they have skipped or consumed their breakfast (Meeusen S48). The results of the study found that the children who ate their breakfast showed an increase in number of problems they got correct, while the children who continued not to eat breakfast did not (Meeusen S48) To

“Optimum nutrition is essential for the development of physical and cognitive health in children, infants and adolescents.”

Richie Et Al. write for a specific population, the researches address people who are concerned about breakfast programs in schools. Schools across the country have adopted breakfast polices, recently however there has been concern about weight gain and excessive energy. The objective of this study was to compare students who don’t eat breakfast, eating breakfast at school or home only, and students eating breakfast at both home and school, also, the relationship of breakfast polices in school and energy intake and diet quality. The research is primarily analytical, Children were grouped based on different characteristics, after collecting data it was then analyzed using a variety of test to find the results. The research was experimental the researchers included a controlled school based intervention trial in California. The researchers proposed hypothesis was that eating two breakfasts-one at home and one at school increases the risk of excessive energy intake and weight gain. The independent variable in this experiment is Breakfast the researchers manipulated this variable, it is the one that is assumed to cause a change in the weight gain and energy intake in students. On the other hand, the dependent variable is the weight gain and energy intake, this is dependent on student’s breakfast intake. Cofounding variables in this experiment include Age, ethnic/race, and language spoken at home.

The relationship between nutrition and academic performance has been a great interest to various amounts of schools and scientist all over the world. “Studies have shown that proper nutrition has a direct effect on student performance and behavior in school” (Ross, 2010, p.3). “Existing data suggests that with better nutrition students are able to learn, students have fewer absences, and students’ behavior improves causing fewer disruptions in the classroom” (Extension, 2014, p.1). To explore the link between nutrition and academic performance, this essay will critically evaluate what foods react differently in our bodies in relation to academic performance, specifically for school-aged children and university students. This essay is divided into three main sections; first, it will examine the effects of poor nutrition such as a limited variety of nutrient-rich foods and excess of high fat and sugary foods, such as fast food, pies, chocolate and more. Secondly, it will examine the effects of good nutrition such as fruits, vegetables, grains and healthy fats. Thirdly it will examine the effects of not eating, specifically focusing on breakfast before school and its effects on learning.