What Does Skipping Breakfast Do?

If you regularly skip breakfast, you may be surprised to find that a morning meal can improve your entire day. A rushed morning doesn't have to mean waiting until lunch to eat. A granola bar and a piece of fruit, a smoothie or a peanut butter sandwich are healthy options that are good for your health and can be eaten on the run.

Lowers Concentration

After sleeping all night, your body is running on empty when you wake up and failing to refuel can make it difficult to concentrate throughout the morning. This can hinder your performance at school and work and make it harder to remember important things. A study published in "Physiological Behavior" found that participants who skipped breakfast did poorly on memory tests when compared to breakfast eaters. Starting the day off with a meal gives your brain the nutrition it needs to function.

Leaves You Without Energy

If you skip breakfast, you may find yourself lagging as lunch gets closer. Since you haven't eaten since the night before, your body doesn't have enough food left to fuel you, which may leave you feeling tired and sluggish. The results of the study conducted by "Physiological Behavior" indicate that people who don't eat a morning meal are more fatigued when lunchtime arrives than those who do eat breakfast. If you exercise in the morning, eating will help maximize your performance and get you through the morning's tasks.

Increases Weight Gain

Filling your stomach with a nutritious meal when you wake up can help set a pattern of healthy eating for the rest of the day. Skipping breakfast may leave you so hungry before lunch that you end up reaching for unhealthy snacks that are high in fat and calories, which may contribute to weight gain. On the other hand, taking the time to eat breakfast helps you make good eating choices for the rest of the day and keeps you from feeling so hungry that you fill up on candy, cookies, cake or soda. People who have successfully lost weight and kept it off are typically breakfast eaters, according to Kaiser Permanente.

Decreases Nutrient Intake

People who skip breakfast may not be getting enough of some nutrients that are important for health and aren't likely to be able to make up for the deficit during the rest of the day, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Eating breakfast increases the amount of nutrition you get during the day, which protects your health in many ways. In addition, breakfast eaters are more likely to eat a smaller amount of fat and cholesterol than those who skip their morning meal, according to MayoClinic.com.