Bed and Breakfast: The Role of Sleep in Breakfast Intake

Abstract

Breakfast intake is associated with numerous positive physical and mental health outcomes, yet skipping breakfast remains common in adults. Sleep behaviors show potential as predictors of breakfast intake; the existing literature, however, has methodological limitations. The current investigation explored the association of means and intraindividual variability of a variety of sleep behaviors (bedtime, midsleep, sleep duration) as predictors of the frequency of eating breakfast and frequency of high-protein breakfast intake. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to assess direct associations between sleep behaviors and breakfast intake frequency. Variability in bedtime was a significant predictor of the frequency of breakfast intake, with greater variability associated with less frequent intake. Variability in sleep duration and midsleep was not significant predictors of the frequency of breakfast intake. Both variability and mean sleep behaviors were not significant predictors of the frequency of breakfast intake or high-protein breakfast intake. Because greater regularity in bedtimes was associated with more frequent breakfast intake, it is plausible that there should be increased education regarding the importance of regularity of sleep behaviors.