Results

GENDER BASED CMPARISON OF BREAKFAST SKIPPERS.

From the 323 students, 181(56%) of them were living in the college hostel while the
remaining 142(44%) were day scholars. Only 24.1% said that they never skipped breakfast,
41.8% skipped 1-3 times a week, 12.1% skipped 4-6 times per week and about 22% were in
a regular habit. The reasons for skipping breakfast were; waking up late or getting late for
class (49.5%) , didn’t feel like eating in the morning 35.9%, didn’t like the food options
available (15.5%),had to prepare it themselves (7.7%), feeling nauseous after waking
up(10.8%) and concerns about weight(4.6%).Then the participants were also surveyed about
the kind of food they had for breakfast; fruits, cereals and juices were well liked by
21.4%,12.1% and 19.2% of the students respectively. Moreover,42.7% said that they had
local breakfast foods, 5.9% had leftover and/or frozen foods and lastly 52.01% said that they
took breads, jams and other bakery items.

Majority of the participants (174, 53.9%) were in a habit of late-night snacking and/or eating
dinner very late while (149, 46.1%) did not report such behaviour. Coffee or tea was
consumed in the morning by (185, 57.3%) students and only (138, 42.7%) said they don’t
take coffee or tea for breakfast. Inquiring about the motive behind drinking coffee/tea, it
was found that 38.7% of the participants preferred it due to their personal taste, 21.36%
consumed it to boost their focus, and 33.75% drank coffee/tea to stay awake. Participants
were also asked about their sleep routine, and it was revealed that (29, 9%) only had 1-3
hours of sleep per night, (196, 60.7%) observed between 4-6 hours of sleep, (86, 26.6%) had
7-8 hours and (12, 3.7%) received more than 8 hours of sleep per night.

Discussion

According to our results, 24.1% of the participants consumed breakfast daily while 22% skipped
breakfast daily. A similar study conducted on health specialty students of university of Hail Saudi
Arabia, showed different results where 39.7% of the students had breakfast regularly and only 10%
of the students skipped breakfast daily(1). The reasons for skipping breakfast were like many of the
other studies. In a study from Karachi the most common reason for skipping breakfast among the
medical students was lack of time (50.7%), similarly most common reason for skipping breakfast in
our sample was also shortage of time (49.5%) i.e. getting late for class. In the same study another
factor associated with skipping breakfast was to loose weight (5.6%) and (4.6%) of the participants
from our sample also reported concern about weight as a reason (2). Local breakfast foods and
snacks (breads, jams, bakery items etc) were the most common breakfast choices among the
participants as reported by 42.7% & 52% respectively. This is quite similar to a study conducted
among medical students of Sri Lanka where local meals (70.2%) and snacks(28.9%) were the most
popular types of foods for breakfast as well(3).The reason could be cultural similarity as both
Pakistan and Sri Lanka are nations of Southeast Asia. Among our study population, 185 students said
that they took coffee/tea for breakfast and among these, 38.7% said that they consumed coffee/tea
due to personal liking while 21.36% took it to increase concentration. This is very different from a
Saudi study on medical students where 48.5% reported to take coffee to increase concentration and
only 5.7% consumed coffee because they liked it(1). Again, the difference could be cultural as
coffee/tea is very popular in the Indian Subcontinent and is an important part of breakfast. It was
also revealed that 69.7% of the participants had less that seven hours of sleep per night. A similar
percentage was found in a study from India where 83% of the medical students had <7 hours of
sleep(4). The recommended amount of sleep by ‘’Sleep Health Foundation’’ for young adults (18-25
years of age) is 7 hours but the data collected confirms that medical students do not get sufficient
sleep(5).

1. Alshammari K, Almalaq A, Alqassim F, Alqahtani K. Physical Activity and Eating Habits Impact
on Attentiveness and Academic Achievement Among Health Specialty Students in University of Hail.
World Family Medicine Journal /Middle East Journal of Family Medicine. 2022.
2. Abro S, Saleem Q, Lashari J, Khalid G, Khan M, Malik F. Breakfast practices and factors
associated with skipping of breakfast in medical students. Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College.
2021;25:37-41.
3. Liyanage G, Siriwardana H, Wettasinghe C, Kumarasiri M, Niwanthika T. Breakfast habits and
its relationship to body mass index and cognitive function among final year medical students.
International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health. 2017;4:3496.
4. Sharma A, Dixit A, Krishnappa K, Sharma R, Shukla S, Jain P. A comparative study of sleep
habits among medical and non-medical students in Saifai, Etawah. International Journal Of
Community Medicine And Public Health. 2018.
5. Foundation SH. How much sleep do you really need: Sleep Health Foundation; 2022
[updated 05 August 2016. Available from: https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/how-much-
sleep-do-you-really-need.html.