Research paper

This research report which is based on data from students of Foundation Studies Department, Hanoi University will focus on clarifying three main questions, namely what are the causes of [r]

Hanoi university Foundation studies department

STUDY ON BREAKFAST OF Foundation studies department STUDENTS

(word count: 2186 words)

Teacher: Nguyen Thi Phuong Le Students: Tran Duy Tung - Ta Minh Tan Class: 1KT-11

Course: ESP Writing Date: May 30, 2012

ABSTRACT

For the time being, breakfast eating habits are essential factors affecting the overall people development of both constitution and mentality Those who have good breakfast eating habits with adequate nutrition are able to work and study effectively since they have a sense of physical and spiritual well-being Students who seem not to comprehensively mature are deeply influenced by their attitude towards breakfast as nutritious absorption is the most effective for the adolescent and the youth Nevertheless, most of the students are apathetic with their heath Especially in terms of breakfast, they slightly concern or even considering them like the so-called „unimportant things‟ This paper investigates breakfast eating customs among Foundation Studies Department (FSD) students

as well as putting forward useful techniques for students to conduct with the expectation of changing their breakfast eating habits if these customs do not bring good results for students The study adopts a quantitative methodology using means of both secondary and primary research (questionnaires and interviews) With the purpose of analyzing the aftermaths of skipping breakfast, this paper tends to help students recognize the importance of nutrition along with good breakfast eating habits Hopefully, this empirical research could be a useful reference for students to get better in breakfast eating habits

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page i

Abstract ii

List of figures iv

1 Introduction 1

2 Method 2

3 Results 2

4 Discussion of findings 4

4.1 The facts of students’ breakfast 4

4.2 The importance of eating breakfast 5

5 Recommendations 6

5.1 Making a daily plans to give enough time for breakfast 6

5.2 Eating a wide range of foods 6

5.3 Changing quality and quantity of breakfast 7

5.4 Making food planning methods 7

6 Conclusion 7

References 8

Appendices 9

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The percentage of how frequently students have breakfast 2

Figure 2: The students‟ choices for a breakfast 3

Figure 3: The causes of skipping breakfast 3

Figure 4: Problems caused by skipping breakfast 4

1 Introduction

In the present age, healthy dietary especially breakfast is usually among the most important issues facing society, not only in terms of health, but also to other aspects such as studying In recent years, people have learnt more about the effects of nutrition and breakfast on the body through scientific studies and experiments Moreover, for students breakfast deeply affects to the concentration ability in class and the capability to pass the exams (Philips, 2005) The role

of breakfast, therefore, has been recognized thanks to research work, although much remains to

be learned Recently there has been a growing concern with bad breakfast eating habits due to the increase many physical and psychological problems to students such as sleepy, muscle fatigue, tiredness, attention disability and so on Tralee (2007) stated that many students in colleges especially those who live far from home find it really hard to maintain the right balance in breakfast as well as the meals preparation for breakfast because of the changes of life pattern in the city They have to adapt to a new life with many new problems when they first go to colleges Many students have freedom to eat what they want and abandon the healthy breakfast eating habits they have grown up with They also suffer from eating disorders and skipping meals is a common habit among lots of college students According to Kendra (2003) and Angela (2009), breakfast eating customs affect the academic performance of students for study schedule or work load keeps varying within each semester

An area in breakfast eating habits is quite complicated but rarely looked into with seriousness

of university students Hence, it is essential that a research be carried out to raise students‟ awareness of scientific breakfast eating customs That will help them achieve successful academic results It is specifically vital to us, students of Foundation Studies Department - a department with full of challenges and pressure Therefore, this issue will be illustrated in our research which focuses on the examination of the breakfast eating habits of FSD students This research report which is based on data from students of Foundation Studies Department,

Hanoi University will focus on clarifying three main questions, namely what are the causes of

bad breakfast eating habits?, to what extent do FSD students can recognize the importance of breakfast?, and how do they improve their breakfast eating customs?

33%

3% 0%

Female

Always Sometimes Rarely Never

49%

35%

11% 5%

Male

Always Sometimes Rarely Never

2 Method

This research paper is based on primary source of data obtained by conducting questionnaires and interviews First of all, 100 FSD students from different classes at Hanoi University were randomly selected and each of them answered 10 questions in the questionnaires All questions were divided into 3 main groups In the first group, the questionnaires were designed to investigate how frequently students eat breakfast before going to school as well as the reasons why some of them skip their breakfast Next, students were asked to evaluate the importance of breakfast and the benefits that a breakfast brings back The last one recommended some useful methods to improve their breakfast by asking them whether they were willing to spend a reasonable amount of money or make a wise meal plan to have a healthy breakfast Secondly,

we invited 10 students to join in our interviews The main aim is to investigate further into students‟ thought about the importance as well as the benefits it brings back Some helpful methods of students to improve the breakfast were also included in the interviews Therefore,

we are confident that the data obtained reached a fairly high level of genuineness

3 Results

The participants of this project were categorized into two groups: 63 female students and 37 male students As expected, the acquired results reflect totally the difference between two genders about their eating habits

Figure 1: The percentage of how frequently students have breakfast

As can be seen from Figure 1, 64% of female students always have breakfast before going to school while in males, the breakfast always eaten accounts for under a half of the total The

percentages of students who sometimes have breakfast are nearly the same in both genders, making up around a third Meanwhile, there are only 3% of female students rarely eating breakfast, this figure in male comprises 11% Surprisingly, the percentage of students never eating breakfast only appears in male group with 5%

Figure 2: The students’ choices for a breakfast

Figure 2 illustrates the students‟ choices of food for their breakfast Both bread and milk are the common choices of almost all students with 30% and 29% respectively Rice and noodle stand

at the next choice positions with more than 5% Some kinds of other food are grouped together, namely egg, coffee, cereals, tea making up 5%

Figure 3: The causes of skipping breakfast

Turning to the causes of skipping breakfast in Figure 3, lack of time and feeling not hungry are the main reasons why students skip their breakfast 61% of male students admitted they had a

little time for breakfast while this percentage in female is more than a half of the male one By contrast, the number of female students skipping breakfast due to feeling not hungry is twice as many as male students (20%) The “Others” group consists of illness, getting up late, saving

money was mentioned with 8% in total of two genders

Figure 4: Problems caused by skipping breakfast

With regard to problems of skipping breakfast, there are two groups of problems, physical and psychological problems Feeling sleepy made up the largest percentage with under a third of the total Standing at the second rank, stomachache accounted for 28% and the smallest proportion is headache with 2% Other problems consisting of eyestrain, nausea, breathlessness comprised 9% Besides, in the psychological group, under a half of the total felt tired when they did not eat breakfast 24% of students also admitted this action resulted in the lack of attention in the class Some psychological problems in group “Others” such as stress, fear comprised 7%

4 Discussion of findings

4.1 The facts of students’ breakfast

Based on the results illustrated in Figure 1, a large proportion of students begin the day with no meal, of which male students make up the majority This can explained by the fact that the differences in psychological and physiological characteristics between two genders affect to students‟ breakfast Male students tend to skip breakfast to save their time and money (Figure 3) Moreover, among investigated students, the number of students never eating breakfast before going to school only appears in male group However, in a more comprehensive view,

lack of time is considered as the major cause for omitting the first meal of the day (Figure 3) According to Tan, a FSD student, the schedule of the university is too restricted As a result, he cannot make breakfast a part of his daily meal These results point out the fact that Hanoi University students, especially students of Foundation Studies Department, are now facing full

of challenge and pressure from studying

In addition, lack of time also has negative effects on students‟ choice on food With the food categorized into three main groups, namely traditional food (rice, fruits and vegetable), fast food (bread, noodle and cookies) and drinks (milk, coffee, juice and tea), it can be seen from the result described in Figure 2 that just a minority of students select traditional food as their regular meal Only one fifth of students attach fruit and vegetable into their daily meal On the contrary, various categories of fat food that are high in fat become the most common choices of almost all students Bread, noodle and milk are eaten frequently by responders as a daily habit

A large number of students (37%) admitted that they omit the first breakfast due to feeling not hungry They said they do not want to eat since they feel full enough to refuse take food any more In the interview, Tuan, a FSD students never eating breakfast, claimed that skips breakfast and make it as a norm This action seems to be harmless but it may involve many troubles Feeling not hungry belongs to mental factors The real demand of food comes from the physical one In reality, their body needs supplying new energy after a long night with a completely empty stomach

Overall, it can be conclude that the reported dietary intake for students seems to be poor and innutritious

4.2 The importance of eating breakfast

Almost everyone must have heard the saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day This fact is made clear again in the investigation among FSD students that three fourths of students claim eating breakfast is very important The exact meaning and importance of breakfast is in the word itself Many students refuse to eat breakfast for several reasons They are not aware that not eating breakfast actually destroys their health and causes various studying problems By eating breakfast, we have broken the fast or long emptiness after dinner since the previous night By the time we wake up in the morning, all our energy is used up That is the reason why we need new energy to go through our daily routine Students who skip

breakfast on a regular frequency are at a high risk of suffering gastroenteritis and several other health problems An empty stomach may prevent them from coming to their progress It has been observed that tiredness is the general feeling of students when they skip breakfast (Figure 4) Headache, sleepiness, nervousness, dizzy, muscle fatigue, attention disability and so on are the serious problems which students have to go along with during the morning class once they refuse to eat “the most important meal of the day” Such physical and psychological problems have the ability to degrade the learning process as well as the progress of students

5 Recommendations

Based on the above discussion of findings, the following suggestions are made Along with analyzing the causes of skipping breakfast or maintaining bad breakfast eating habits and recognizing the importance of breakfast for health, we put forward four methods that may be useful for students to follow Hopefully, by comprehending the essence of breakfast, students can change their attitude towards it Only then have they studied and worked effectively and totally develop their body and mind

5.1 Making a daily plans to give enough time for breakfast

From the results as shown in Figure 3, there are a sizeable amount of students not having enough time to prepare for breakfast Therefore, setting an adequate timetable to prepare for breakfast is extremely essential Kenyan (2012) claimed that students need to set alarm at least

20 minutes earlier before leaving for classes in order to prepare for breakfast With enough time, students find it really easy to select foods and make the quality of breakfast better

5.2 Eating a wide range of foods

About 40 different known nutrients are needed to maintain health No single food can supply all the crucial nutrients in the amount needed Thus, the greater the variety of foods used, the less likely a person is to develop either a deficiency or an excess of any single nutrient One way to ensure variety, and with it a balance diet, is to select foods each day from all the major good groups

5.3 Changing quality and quantity of breakfast

Breakfast is very essential since the intensity of studying among students becomes dense There

is a fact that many students slightly consider breakfast and as a result, they perfunctorily