Up to 40% of 17-18 year olds don’t eat breakfast, and it’s affecting their school performance. That’s according to a new survey conducted by School Dynamics, the company that runs Life Skills workshops in UK schools. It has found that although the majority of 13-14-year-olds eat breakfast, by the time they’re 15-16, percentages drop dramatically to 75-80%. And among 17-18 year-olds, only around 60-70% eat breakfast. Sharon Pink, chief executive of School Dynamics, which is spearheading the “Love Breakfast” campaign, said:

“It’s almost scary to see how many students who’ve had nothing to eat since the night before are clearly struggling to concentrate in class. We literally divide the groups into two – those who’ve had breakfast and those who haven’t.  We don’t expect much from the have-nots.”

“Many of them have no idea what to eat. Plus they’re time-pressured in the morning. One 18-year-old told us he likes toast but can’t make it before school because “it takes too long”. How much effort does it take to grab a cereal bar or a box of juice?”

Well, as regular readers will know, I don’t move a muscle without eating breakfast, and it’s always muesli, yoghurt, fruit and caffeine-free Rooibos tea. But there are a lot of other options to get your system working: toast (with some kind of protein is best i.e. peanut butter, ham, cheese), an energy bar, banana, smoothie or cereal and milk etc. Choose something that suits your budget and the amount of time you have (or can you MAKE more time?).

Today’s cartoon comes courtesy of School Dynamics‘ Love Breakfast campaign. They surveyed 2,000 students between January-March this year. Pupils aged 11-18 can still take part at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/572CJT8 . They can also name the cartoon characters created for the campaign by emailing lovebreakfast@school-dynamics.co.uk  or post suggestions to Twitter @school_dynamics.