Healthy daily habits may do more than support physical health, they may also help the mind stay adaptable when stress strikes.
Do you ever feel mentally stuck when stress hits, as if you cannot handle what is happening? New research from Binghamton University suggests that simple habits such as eating a healthy breakfast, exercising, and getting enough sleep may help build psychological flexibility, a quality that plays an important role in how people respond to stress.
Psychological flexibility is the ability to adjust your thoughts, emotions, and actions as situations change, while staying balanced and constructive. Rather than feeling trapped by stress, people with stronger psychological flexibility can pause, understand what they are feeling, and respond in a healthier way.
“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.”
What the Researchers Found
Begdache and her colleagues, former Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Binghamton Jason Cherry and former student Alexander J. Talkachov, carried out an anonymous survey of about 400 college students. The questions covered diet, sleep habits, exercise frequency, and other lifestyle factors. The results showed that steady healthy habits, including regular exercise and eating breakfast, are linked to greater psychological flexibility. That, in turn, is associated with stronger resilience and a better ability to cope with stress.
Key findings from the study include:
- People who sleep less than six hours tend to have lower resilience and lower psychological flexibility
- Eating breakfast five or more times a week is associated with greater resilience through psychological flexibility processes
- Exercise, even for 20 minutes or more, is associated with psychological flexibility and resilience
- Taking fish oil multiple times a week can help with psychological flexibility
By contrast, low psychological flexibility, or rigid thinking and behavior, is associated with unhealthy habits such as eating fast food and not getting enough sleep.
Begdache said psychological flexibility helps people “step back” and use the brain’s resources to better understand and process emotions. She also said people may be able to strengthen that flexibility through improvements in diet and lifestyle.
The Missing Link Between Habits and Mental Resilience
“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.”
Reference: “Dietary and lifestyle factors and resilience: the role of psychological flexibility as a mediator” by Lina Begdache, Jason Cherry and Alexander J. Talkachov, 30 December 2025, Journal of American College Health.
DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2025.2597907
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