Do you ever feel mentally stuck, like you can't cope when a stressful situation hits? A healthy breakfast, exercise, and a good night's sleep might be just what you need to build psychological flexibility, and new research from Binghamton University shows why that matters.
What is psychological flexibility? Psychological flexibility is the ability to adapt your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to changing situations in a balanced and constructive way. Instead of getting mentally "stuck" when stress hits, psychologically flexible people can step back, process their emotions, and respond constructively.
"You might know someone who stays cool under pressure," said Lina Begdache, an associate professor of health and wellness studies and lead author of the study. "The kind of person who misses a flight and, instead of panicking, calmly adapts to the situation. This person may still feel stressed, but they're better able to manage it through psychological flexibility."
"People may say that these are resilient people, but they also have what's called psychological flexibility. They're able to change the way they think about the situation and then use brain resources to handle the stress."
Begdache and her colleagues - former Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Binghamton Jason Cherry and former student Alexander J. Talkachov - conducted an anonymous survey of approximately 400 college students asking questions on diet, sleeping habits, exercise frequency, and more. They found that consistent healthy habits, such as regular exercise and eating breakfast, enhance psychological flexibility, which in turn strengthens mental resilience and helps individuals cope with stress.
Key findings from the study include:
- Eating breakfast five or more times a week is associated with increased resilience through psychological flexibility processes
- People who sleep less than six hours tend to have less resilience and less psychological flexibility
- Exercise, even 20 minutes or more, is associated with psychological flexibility and resilience
- Taking fish oil multiple times a week can help with psychological flexibility
In contrast, low psychological flexibility, or rigidity in thinking and behavior, is associated with poor habits such as fast-food consumption and insufficient sleep.
Begdache said that psychological flexibility allows a person to "step back" and use their brain's resources to better understand and process their emotions. And people can have more flexibility if they follow certain improvements in their diet and lifestyle.
"When we're under stress, we feel like we fuse with the stress. We live the stress. But psychological flexibility is like stepping back and thinking, 'I feel this because of that. What can I do?' Identifying your emotions sometimes helps you find the solution for these emotions," said Begdache.
Begdache's earlier research found that high-quality diets boost resilience while poor diets reduce it. This study adds a critical piece: psychological flexibility is the pathway through which diet and lifestyle shape resilience.
"The new finding here is that diet and lifestyle don't just make you resilient by themselves. They help you build the psychological flexibility, which, in turn, makes you a resilient person."
The paper, "Dietary and lifestyle factors and resilience: the role of psychological flexibility as a mediator," was published in the Journal of American College Health.
