Association between Irregular Meal Timing and the Mental Health of Japanese Workers

Abstract

Breakfast skipping and nighttime snacking have been identified as risk factors for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. However, the effects of irregularity of meal timing on health and daily quality of life are still unclear. In this study, a web-based self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted involving 4490 workers (73.3% males; average age = 47.4 ± 0.1 years) in Japan to investigate the association between meal habits, health, and social relationships. This study identified that irregular meal timing was correlated with higher neuroticism (one of the Big Five personality traits), lower physical activity levels, and higher productivity loss. Irregular meal timing was also associated with a higher incidence of sleep problems and lower subjective health conditions. Among health outcomes, a high correlation of irregular meal timing with mental health factors was observed. This study showed that irregularity of meal timing can be explained by unbalanced diets, frequent breakfast skipping, increased snacking frequency, and insufficient latency from the last meal to sleep onset. Finally, logistic regression analysis was conducted, and a significant contribution of meal timing irregularity to subjective mental health was found under adjustment for other confounding factors. These results suggest that irregular meal timing is a good marker of subjective mental health issues.

The impact of eating behaviors during COVID-19 in health-care workers: A conditional process analysis of eating, affective disorders, and PTSD

“…Previous studies have shown an association between meal timing irregularity, overtime work, and night shift work [ 38 ]. Additionally, night shift workers demonstrated behaviors of irregular meal timing and unhealthy eating habits [ 38 ].…”

“…Previous studies have shown an association between meal timing irregularity, overtime work, and night shift work [ 38 ]. Additionally, night shift workers demonstrated behaviors of irregular meal timing and unhealthy eating habits [ 38 ]. This study found that the time of last meal and eat midpoint of the night shift was later than that of the day shift, indicating that the eating rhythm of the night shift moved backward as a whole.…”

Association between Breakfast Meal Categories and Timing of Physical Activity of Japanese Workers

“…In this cross-sectional study, we screened 5534 participants who responded to a questionnaire. We used the same samples published in our previous paper [ 28 ]. Participants were recruited through an online survey company (Cross Marketing Inc., Tokyo, Japan) from 19 December 2020 to 25 December 2020.…”

“…Studies have shown that managing employee health at work can improve employee performance and the company’s performance. This issue is becoming more prevalent globally [ 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among takeaway riders: Up-to-date evidence in Shanghai, China

“…A South Korean survey also found that temporary workers were more likely to skip meals than permanent workers, especially in the case of lunch ( 25 ). It is well-known that irregular meals do great harm to health, since skipping meals was associated with lower dietary quality as well as reduced healthy food purchases ( 26 , 27 ) and thus led to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mental health problems ( 28 , 29 ). Interestingly, when irregularity is then subdivided, intermittent irregular eating habits may cause more physical and psychological disorders by influencing metabolic and anxiolytic properties with consequent effects on daily activity levels due to the unreliable prediction of food availability ( 30 ).…”