Brainy Works Trigger Obesity

"Put off your thinking caps", suggests a team of Canadian researchers who in their latest research conclude that too much thinking leads to overeating and thus obesity.

Moreover, intellectual activities like reading, writing or working on the computer increase an individual’s calorie intake, thus making them eat more and ending up with obesity.

In the study conducted at the Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada, the team led by Dr. Angelo Tremblay, monitored 14 students who were required to perform each of three tasks,
• relaxing in a sitting position,
• reading and summarizing a text,
• completing a series of memory, attention, and vigilance tests on the computer.

After 45 minutes at each activity, students were then asked to eat at the buffet. Researchers then recorded their food intakes after each activity.

However, while researches had already shown that each session of mental work requires only three calories more than those relaxing, students uncontrollably consumed 203 extra calories after reading and summarizing a text and an extra 253 calories after completing memory tests on computer, researchers found.

Moreover, blood samples of students - taken before, during and after the tasks revealed that their glucose and insulindefine levels were high during mental work compared to rest periods.

Explaining the basis of the theory, study’s lead author Jean-Philippe Chaput noted, “These fluctuations may be caused by the stress of intellectual work, or also reflect a biological adaptation during glucose combustion.”

"The body could be reacting to these fluctuations by spurring food intake in order to restore its glucose balance, the only fuel used by the brain," he added.

Unfortunately, with input of calories greater than the output, more and more people are being caught in the obesity net.

"Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work, combined with the fact that we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialized countries," Chaput highlighted.

"This is a factor that should not be ignored, considering that more and more people hold jobs of an intellectual nature," he added.