Snacking and Studying

Staying up late, studying till dawn and then racing to take your final exam or get in those final pages of your paper before your professor\’s deadline, is a common occurrence on a college campus. Trying to eat a healthy diet while staying awake at night and not gaining weight seems to be a never ending struggle for most college students.

Interestingly, there have also been recent studies that showed that intellectual activities, such as writing papers or cramming for a test, can cause people to need more than those who have spent the afternoon sitting on the couch. In a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine researchers split university students into three different groups.

The first group relaxed in a sitting position, the second group read and summarize the text while the third group completed a series of tests involving memory and attention. After these tests the students were invited to eat much as they wanted. Researchers found that those who studied ate more calories than the group who performed no intellectually demanding tasks. The students who participated in computer testing ate 250 more calories than the resting group while the second group, who read and summarize, had 203 more calories than those who relaxed. (1)

Some college students have found that it\’s easier to snack their way through the day and evening than it is to sit down to three healthy meals or cook for themselves. While it might be easier to head for comfort foods, especially after cramming for a test, it is more important to select fruits and vegetables while studying then reach for the Ho Ho\’s or the Dingdongs. Giving your brain the proper nutrients while studying can help improve the students ability to memorize, concentrate and coordinate the information fed into the brain.

The brain is an organ in the body which actually takes most of the nutrients we eat. So if the brain is properly maintained by integrating the proper ingredients, you can improve mood, attention, endurance and overall health. However, when snacking at night, reaching for that candy bar or bag of chips, will actually hinder your ability to absorbs the material that you\’re reading.

Instead, try to have some fresh cut of vegetables or cold fruit on hand. Most dorm rooms allow students to have a small refrigerator in the room where students can keep apples, oranges, grapes, bananas and any other fruit they happen to enjoy. Fresh vegetables, cut up and washed, are a great snack food but cold fruit is a real appetite buster. Apples are probably the most convenient food to keep on hand and are also very filling.

Try to avoid high sodium foods such as potato chips or even Ramen. Ramen soup is very high in sodium but it also has MSG that can help keep you up later and not allow you to sleep. Sodium lead to high blood pressure later in life and has other negative effects as well. The sodium from Ramen soup and potato chips can help increase the amount of fluid you retain in the body which makes you feel bloated and makes it more difficult to concentrate.

Try to avoid drinking caffeine at night when you stay up late. You might feel like it gives you an extra boost but it also makes it more difficult to fall asleep when you are ready to hit the bed. Caffeine is also dehydrating, which means that you need to drink extra fluid in order to keep your brain as hydrated as possible.

Sometimes a high carbohydrate snack late at night is just what the doctor ordered. Non-sugary breakfast cereals, breakfast bars or wheat crackers can be a good choice for late-night snacking. These are fairly healthy, will fill you up enough to allow you to continue working effectively and will not keep you up when it is ready to go to bed.

Researchers have found that it is important to feed your brain while you are using it and that intellectual activity will actually make you hungrier. However, while you may have the perception of being hungry you have not actually burned the calories you thought you did. This means that when you fill up on high carbohydrate foods, fats and sugars you are actually going to gain weight. Instead feed your hunger with fruits and vegetables to keep yourself ready for the next night and studying.

(1) Scientific American: Science of Snacks: Thinking Makes You Hungry