Unfavorable Behaviors in Children Run in Packs! Dietary and Non-Dietary Modulators of Attentional Capacity

Abstract

Children’s cognitive performance can be influenced by behaviors such as eating breakfast in the morning. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the mediating effects of breakfast behavior and other lifestyle habits on eye-hand coordination and attention. In a secondary analysis of the CogniDROP study, children from the 5th and 6th grade of a comprehensive school in Germany (n = 223) performed a simple computerized Visual Attention Task and answered a questionnaire about behavioral patterns, i.e., skipping breakfast on a school day, frequency of physical activity (PA) outside school, and nighttime sleep. An association matrix was constructed to show the relationship between the variables. Almost 11% of children left home in the morning without breakfast, more than 9.5% of children reported poor sleep quality, 24.9% slept less than the recommended 9 h, and girls were insufficiently physically active. Sleep duration, bedtime, and PA correlated with skipping breakfast. Better sleep quality was positively related to reaction time in the Visual Attention Task. Overall, the data suggest that unfavorable behaviors in children tend to run in packs, just as skipping breakfast in the morning seems to be associated with other unfavorable habits, which impairs children’s eye-hand coordination and attention.

Evaluation of the Accuracy of Contactless Consumer Sleep-Tracking Devices Application in Human Experiment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…3 OSA: obstructive sleep apnea. 4 PLMS: periodic limb movement in sleep. 5 SDB: sleep-disordered breathing.…”

“…Sleep is an important indicator when analyzing fatigue [ 1 , 2 ], working performance [ 3 , 4 ], mood [ 5 , 6 ], circadian entrainment [ 7 , 8 ], etc. Some human experiments om large samples have been conducted in the field, with sleep monitoring performed at home [ 6 , 9 , 10 ].…”