Family meals are on the decline

Research has shown that over the past 40 years, our lives have become over-scheduled. Meanwhile, family meals have become undervalued. One third of people feel that their family is often too busy to eat dinner together. The pressures of busy working and after-school lives have left us feeling stressed and tired.

But did you know that study after study is showing the psychological benefits that regular family meals can have on our mental health, and that of our children?

What are the psychological benefits of regular family meals?

Families who have frequent meals together report lower rates of depression and have better family relationships.

Regular family meals show an even stronger link to getting high grades in school than doing homework. And teenagers who eat family meals on 5 to 7 nights a week are twice as likely to get A’s in school as those who do so on less than 2 nights a week!

Not only that, but teenagers who regularly sit down with their families for a meal show less risk-taking behaviours. These behaviours include smoking, using drugs and fighting. They have a 35% reduced risk of developing eating disorders and have a better self-esteem.

What are the benefits to our diets of having regular family meals?

But family meals are not just great for the minds, they are also a fantastic way to improve our diets!

Families who eat more regular meals together have overall healthier diets. They eat more vegetables, fruits, healthy grains and calcium rich foods. Meanwhile they drink less sugary drinks and eat less high fat foods.

And these effects do not just stay at the dinner table in the family home. Young adults who had regular family meals as teenagers are now continuing to eat more vegetables, more fibre and more vitamins and minerals. Meanwhile, they are 20% less likely to regularly eat fast food. Remarkably, they also try to sit down with their friends and own young families more often. Research shows they put a greater effort into encouraging family meals of their own.

What are the benefits to our diets of having regular family meals?

These fantastic benefits of family meals on the quality of our diets can also be seen in our weights. One in four of our children in Ireland is overweight or obese. This number only grows when we reach adulthood.

Interestingly, the odds of being overweight are significantly lower in youth who report eating a family dinner almost every day. Studies show that the more often a family sits together for a meal, the less likely all family members are to be overweight or obese. By sharing 3 meals a week with your family, the risk of being overweight is reduced by 12%.

Now, I challenge you sit down with your family or with your friends for a meal on one more day than usual this week.

Of course I understand that getting the gang together for a meal may be tough. Food may not all get eaten and the conversation may not flow like it does in those wonderful Christmas movies… Family meals, like everything else, takes practice.

And remember, in these strange times of social distancing and potentially a need for self-isolation – only have meals with people in your current home unit (and not during a time when you are to self-isolate). The risks of breaking social distancing and seeking out people to eat with far outweigh any potential benefits from eating a family meal together!

In my next post, I will delve a little deeper into what makes family meals so valuable. What aspects of this magical meal can bring such fantastic benefits. And what do we need to think about when preparing our own family meals.

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