Canadian Researchers Say Hard Thinking Leads To Big Meals 150
Anti-Globalism writes with an excerpt from a story at Ars Technica, according to which "a preliminary study from a group of researchers in Quebec suggest that working on a computer may have an additional impact on our waistlines: taxing mental effort appears to cause people to eat significantly more food, even though it doesn't burn many more calories than sitting around and relaxing. The publication, published in a journal called Psychosomatic Medicine, arose from a pilot study that the researchers were performing in order to determine whether a potential connection between mental effort and eating was worth following up on."
Vindication (Score:5, Insightful)
First to clear up a small matter. Merely reading the summary is somewhat misleading. While the brain's actual energy usage stays consistent, the study shows that blood sugar and insulin levels varied radically during the tests. Furthermore, the subjects in the tests showed marked signs of stress, including heightened levels of cortisol in their bloodstream. Here's the relevant section:
What's particularly interesting about these results is that two things have been known for a while now. The first is that the brain's energy usage is relatively constant regardless of the task. However, it has also been clear that severe mental activity can result in signs of fatigue, exhaustion, and greater energy consumption. I personally can attest to these symptoms after several extremely challenging programming tasks. (Ever tried cobbling together an emergency replacement JSP engine inside 3 hours? That was... interesting.) Yet this is simply at odds with the scientific evidence on hand.
This study finally offers evidence to break the impasse. It is the first evidence to clearly show that there is a physiological and not merely a psychological effect from extreme mental work. I look forward to hearing the results of future studies. Perhaps a more effective diet or lifestyle can be devised to make knowledge workers more effective.
Re:Vindication (Score:5, Insightful)
Sedentary work + stress = overeating, who would have thunk it?
The real problem is the desire for money outweighs (pardon the pun) the desire for a sane society, i.e. exercise, etc. Having a certain amount of hours off a week for exercise/relaxation and whatnot, I was just reading something about how americans have near the least vacaton time a year compared to other industrialized nations.
I'm not surprised given the nature of our stupidity when it comes to taking care of ourselves, money first, health later.
Maybe it's just me.... (Score:0, Insightful)
but I call total bullshit. How do you correlate "working on a computer" with "mental effort"? Absolute rubbish.
The reason computer-dwellers eat so much is basically a combination of boredom, stress, and just the way of life of our kind. As far as I'm concerned, it has nothing to do with brain usage. Computers are like TV... when you watch TV, you munch on food because there's NOTHING ELSE TO DO! I think it's pretty common that sitting on your ass leads to needing to find something to do while sitting on one's ass. And popping food into the mouth is the easiest and most comforting thing to do. Either that, or you smoke.
So no offense, but determining that people who sit on their asses equals people using their brains equals eating is the biggest excuse since sliced bread.
Hrm, speaking of sliced bread... it's time for a sandwich!
Re:consistent (Score:3, Insightful)
"I have got a hunch that eating small meals keeps one's insulin and glucose levels more constant than eating big meals."
Not to state that you have it, but it sounds like the eating pattern (many small vs. fewer big meals) is fairly similar to what is recommended for people who have hypoglycemia.
Re:Vindication (Score:3, Insightful)
> I happen to believe that thinking hard- programming- writing- puzzle-solving for hours on end burns way more energy as opposed to sitting on your ass watching a sitcom. It just has to, right?
Depends. Maybe the difference in energy-consumption between a programming brain and a sitcom-watching brain is very small, or even insignificant. Note that while you may not feel like you're thinking much while watching that sitcom, your brain is doing all kinds of (difficult) stuff like facial recognition and speech recognition. While you are programming/writing/puzzle-solving you usually don't have to pay attention to faces and sounds.
Maybe concious activities merely feel more tiring than unconcious ones, but actually aren't.
Re:SHENANIGANS! (Score:3, Insightful)
You do realize that IT encompasses more than just Dell 'technical' support, do you not?
And that explains why Frys... (Score:3, Insightful)
...sells more junk food than your average supermarket!
Re:Vindication (Score:1, Insightful)
The system here isn't perfect by any means, but your post is a flat out troll, a majority of americans have more than enough free time to keep healthy and don't live for their jobs.
In my experience.. (Score:1, Insightful)
I always considered this to be a know fact, i was aware that the brain utilized glucose at a constant rate, however in my personal experience any prolonged period of mental exertion leads to hunger and lethargy, common sense. However rather interestingly i have found that the intensity of my work regardless (to an extent) of time does indeed affect the amount i eat and my appetite.
Top a good meal with a quality power nap every couple of hours and your into a winning cycle.