A good meal can do wonders for anyone. These are typically filling, tasty, and pretty if you’re taking the time to invest in the presentation. Meals are even a time to recharge your social batteries or enjoy time with the people you care about as you share the food. In short, a good meal can be filling in a variety of ways and leave you prepared for what comes after. Most people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and for some of us it is. This can be for any number of the above reasons where it is part of a ritual that binds us to others, but you should be aware that there are some reasonable and health-related reasons that you want to have breakfast whenever you actually wake up.

The Rhythm of a Life
We’re all used to maintaining patterns in our life of some sort. This can range from always remembering to call one of your parents every couple of weeks to stay in touch to always putting your keys in a particular place so you know exactly where to find them. Your body has patterns that it listens to routinely and tries to follow. It expects food and rest at particular times to keep your body operating smoothly. In most cases, we provide these without thinking as habit dictates that we do something and your body remains happy. However, if you do something like skip breakfast when you’re used to it, then your body becomes confused. You’ve broken the pattern. This can lead to a number of responses from your body, but commonly it will result in sluggishness and inattentiveness. The latter result is particularly common as your body tries to understand the break in the pattern. It can be caused by another problem from skipping breakfast though.

Low Fuel
When you wake up from lengthy rest, your body is lower of resources than you went to bed. You may sleep, but your body spends all that time processing food and otherwise using your resting state to repair things. This depletion typically results in the immediate hunger most of us feel when we wake to our mornings. Not everyone gets hit by hunger immediately. You probably feel lethargic when you wake up due to lower blood sugar. This can also lead to problems like headaches and disorientation. You should try to eat something before darting out the door when you wake up for precisely this reason. Your body needs something to essentially give it fuel to replace what it has lost. If you don’t replace the fuel, then you’ll be less able to deal with the results of the day simply because you won’t have the energy.

Jumpstart
Lastly, eating when you wake up is a little jumpstart for your body. It may be working throughout the night and using fuel, but it isn’t at full capacity. Your metabolism slows when you rest. This is another reason you tend to feel a little sluggish in the morning. Eating something helps remind your body to get your metabolism up to normal levels. This means that when you eat later that your body will process things effectively. Another important point to note is that not eating will lead your body to become even hungrier later. The hunger will potentially be far more than you need too and cause you to overeat. Making sure your metabolism is working at proper levels is key to keeping your waistline where you want it in more ways than one.

Breakfast is far too easy to skip for most of us. It seems so unimportant when you know you’ll be eating later. After all, what’s the harm when you’re not hungry? The truth is that breakfast plays a key role in maintaining your body’s internal sense of rhythm. It keeps your metabolism working properly, ensures you have fuel for the day, and prevents you from being out of step with everything. You might lead busy lives, but this shouldn’t stop you from grabbing a muffin before darting out the door.