by Meghan White
Daily Lobo
Skipping breakfast to catch a couple minutes more sleep might be doing something far worse than hurting Captain Crunch's feelings.
Leslie Cunningham-Sabo, research assistant professor at the UNM Health and Sciences Center, said not eating breakfast could "impair a student's ability to learn."
Cunningham-Sabo said the immediate effects of not eating breakfast can include nausea and light-headedness. She said blood sugar levels drop and people may experience a lack of energy.
She said people who do not eat breakfast cannot function at their peak level.
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"Bodies need energy from breakfast foods," Cunningham-Sabo said.
Sophomore Jessica Terrazas said she doesn't think it makes much of a difference if she misses breakfast. She feels perfectly normal when she skips it.
Andrea Schanbacher said she would buy yogurt for breakfast at school if it were more affordable.
Dave Szenasi said he doesn't eat breakfast, but on big test days, he eats to make sure he has less on his mind during the exam.
Cunningham-Sabo said there might not be long-term effects in a breakfast-deprived body in healthy people.
"I think people's bodies can be fairly adaptable," she said. "I'm not aware of any long-term effects."
She said if someone has a health condition such as diabetes, then skipping meals can be a real problem because it causes blood sugar levels to drop.
"People with conditions such as diabetes really do need to eat regularly scheduled meals," Cunningham-Sabo said.
But the benefits of eating a little something after waking up seem to be a key in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, she said.
Student Rudy Richardson said he tries to eat breakfast at home so he doesn't spend money during the day. But for the most part, he doesn't have time to eat breakfast.
"Most of the time, I don't think about breakfast," he said.
"It does take a little bit of planning, but have some grab-and-go kind of snacks such as granola bars, a piece of fruit, yogurt - even last night's leftover pizza," Cunningham-Sabo said. "Do not be constrained by thinking you have to eat stereotypical breakfast foods."
