The role of teachers' metacognitive resources in preventing obesity as a key component of metabolic syndrome
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6127-2026-4-117-126
This article examines the role of teacher’s metacognitive resources in obesity prevention as a key component of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, that includes central obesity, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and arterial hypertension. Its prevalence among educators has reached critical levels: abdominal obesity identified in 40,2% of professionals in this field. Teaching is characterized by high degree of emotional and cognitive load, which triggers a cascade of neuroendocrine reactions leading to visceral fat accumulation and the development of insulin resistance. A systematic analysis of Russian and international studies was conducted to examine the interrelation between teacher’s occupational stress, metabolic disturbances, and metacognitive. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of teacher’s metacognitive resources in metabolic syndrome prevention. It is substantiated that professional thinking resourcefulness, understood as the metacognitive ability to recognize, actualize, and effectively utilize internal and external means for solving professional tasks, serves as protective factor inhibiting metabolic disorder development. A key component of the professional thinking resourcefulness concept is suprasituational thinking, viewed as the teacher’s intellectual ability to transcend the boundaries of a specific problem situation. This capacity reduces affective involvement and mitigates the physiological stress responses. Metacognitive resources, including suprasituational thinking, mindfulness, and metacognitive regulation of eating behavior, act as protective factors against emotion-driven overeating and metabolic disturbances. Empirical data confirms the association between high levels of mindfulness and metacognitive regulation and lower probability of developing metabolic syndrome. The mechanism of bidirectional relationship between metacognition and metabolic health is described: metacognitive ability deficits lead to emotional overeating and obesity, which in turn causes cognitive impairments, forming a vicious cycle: low thinking resourcefulness → insufficient self-regulation → emotional overeating → obesity and metabolic syndrome → cognitive impairments → further decline in metacognitive abilities. Development of teacher’s metacognitive competencies at early stages of professionalization may provide a psychological basis for preventive programs targeting metabolic syndrome, which has significant practical implications for maintaining the occupational health of educators.
Keywords: metacognitive resources, metabolic syndrome, obesity, occupational health of educators, suprasituational thinking, thinking resourcefulness, mindfulness, burnout syndrome, occupational stress
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Issue: 4, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: PSYCHOLOGY
Pages: 117 — 126
Downloads: 118