Replace burgers with bananas: unhealthy diet could contribute to exam stress

WASHINGTON DC: It's becoming almost impossible to remove those cravings for junk food during college exams, submitting to these cravings may not be the best thing to do. According to a recent study, an increase in stress during university exams is badociated with a lower quality diet, including fewer fruits and vegetables and more fast food.

"Stress has long been involved in a poor diet.People tend to say that they eat too much and that they comfort by eating foods high in fat, sugar and calories during times of stress. Our findings, which focus on students' dietary habits during periods of food premature deterioration, "said Nathalie Michels, principal investigator of the study.

According to researchers, healthy eating is necessary to optimize academic and mental performance.

"Unfortunately, our findings suggest that students have difficulty eating healthy and adopting poor eating habits, which in a few weeks can dramatically affect your overall health and be difficult to change," said Michels.

As part of the study, researchers investigated the link between test-induced stress and changes in food quality, and determined whether these badociations were altered by psychosocial factors such as eating behavior (emotional / external). / restricted), food choice pattern, taste preference, reward / sensitivity to punishment, impulsivity, coping strategies, sedentary behavior, and social support.

During the month-long review period, participants struggled to stick to a healthy diet, and only a quarter satisfied the WHO recommendation, 400 g of fruits and vegetables per day. In addition, students who reported higher levels of stress tended to snack more often.

The findings suggest that emotional eaters (who eat in response to negative emotions), external eaters (who eat in response to the sight or smell of food), sweet / fat lovers, highly motivated people health (with health as a food of choice), reward and punishment, extremely sedentary and with higher levels of stress, is more likely to make unhealthy food choices during this stressful time.

According to the researchers, to combat stress-induced diet, prevention strategies need to incorporate psychological and lifestyle-related aspects, including stress management (training in emotion regulation, alertness, yoga). ), nutritional education with self-efficacy techniques, the awareness of eating without eating. hunger and creating an environment that stimulates healthy eating and physical activity.