Hey Brainiac: Too much thinking makes you fat

by Martha Edwards (Subscribe to Martha Edwards's posts)
Sep 14th 2008 8:29AM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Bad news for your intellectual types: Thinking hard makes you hungry and often leads to overconsumption of calories, according to this post on Diet Blog.

In a recent study, researchers asked participants to engage in one of three activities -- sitting still, reading and writing, and performing a series of tests. Afterwards, they were treated to an all-you-can-eat buffet and how much they ate was measured. The study found that compared to those who sat still, participants who spent the time reading and writing ate 23.6% more and those who performed the tests ate 29% more.

To be honest, I expected opposite results, because it seems like those who sat still would be hungrier merely out of boredom. What about you?

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Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Natalie 9-15-2008 @ 2:04AM

Well, maybe the effort of thinking actually burned those extra calories so they'd still come out even? I'd like to see more research on this!

Vishaal 9-14-2008 @ 12:20PM

I see what you mean because bordem leads to hunger in most cases, however, I think the ones reading ate more because they were more exhausted from the reading and test taking.

dio 9-14-2008 @ 3:32PM

Thinking uses up calories though probably, it's its own kind of exercise. If you've ever done a lot of studying or taken a difficult and long test and then felt exhausted, that's a bit of an indicator, I'd think. Definitely it would be a bad idea to advise people not to think so hard, because using your brain is just like using muscles, use it or lose it. Without your brain in good function, controlling your body properly, who cares how healthy the rest of your body is? Intellectual exercise is every bit as important as physical exercise, so don't be encouraging people to stop thinking.