When we study or use our brains a lot, we often wonder if stimulating our brains so much might lead to weight loss.
You might have heard somewhere that our brain, which is part of our body, consumes a lot of calories. The brain uses about 20% of the calories we consume. This means that if a person consumes an average of 2000 calories daily, they use about 400 calories. Considering that the calories used for digestion are about 10% per day, the brain uses quite a lot of calories.
So, if we focus on something and highly activate our brains, we might think that more calories would be consumed and that we might lose weight even without dieting.
However, it’s practically difficult to lose weight using our brains. This is because there isn’t a significant difference in the amount of calories the brain consumes, whether we use our brains a lot or just daydream.
According to Professor Charles M. Marcus from the University of Washington, the difference in calorie consumption between extremely focused brain activity and watching TV is insignificant, at around 5% over 8 hours.
In other words, the calorie difference between someone who focuses on studying or reading for 8 hours and someone who daydreams and watches TV is only about 100 calories.
Why doesn’t the brain show a significant difference in calorie consumption whether we concentrate or not? Most of the brain’s energy is used to keep our consciousness awake, observe the surrounding environment, accept stimuli, and manage the life and activities within the body.
In other words, most of the brain’s calories are naturally used 24 hours a day without extra effort. Even if we have to perform actions requiring a high concentration level in our daily lives, it is only negligible compared to what the brain already does. Therefore, it is possible to focus on very few calories.
If you feel hungry and low on sugar after studying hard, this is likely primarily false hunger due to stress. This is because when the body is stressed, you eat more carbohydrate-rich foods.
Ultimately, combining diet and exercise is better than just using your brain intensively to lose weight.
By. Soo Jung Shin
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