Thinking Hard May Burn More Calories Than Mindless Tasks

Mental tasks zap a lot of physical energy and often leave you feeling drained (even if you haven't moved all day). So does working your mind burn the same calories as an actual workout? Not quite. While a marathon day at your desk job will never equate to the physical output of actually running a marathon, a stimulated brain may burn more calories than one engaged in mindless activities.

Your body is constantly burning calories. Calories are a unit of measurement for energy, and it takes a lot of energy to breathe, keep blood flowing, digest food, and regulate your temperature. The brain orchestrates almost all bodily functions, and it requires a lot of energy to do so. 

This vital organ uses about 20% of the energy 1the body burns at rest. So, say you burn 1,600 at rest, about 320 calories would be diverted to power the brain alone. 

Like other organs in the body, blood vessels deliver energy to the brain mainly in the form of glucose (blood sugar). When a region of the brain is activated, blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow and nutrients like glucose to meet the higher energy demands of that region.

It's this potential mechanism that may be behind why non-physically demanding tasks increase the rate of calories burned. 

Current estimates from Harvard show that a 155-pound person could expect to burn an additional 80 calories an hour reading, 70 calories an hour standing in line, and 44 calories an hour sleeping (yes the brain is active during sleep). 

About one-third of American adults3 sleep less than the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Poor sleep is linked to multiple measures of metabolic dysfunction4 like increased appetite, weight gain, and worsened blood sugar control. However, sleeping sufficiently helps you maintain optimal physical and mental energy throughout the day. 

Strength training involves pushing, pulling, or lifting heavy objects to grow your muscles, and it's one of the best ways to increase your basal metabolic rate (aka how many calories you burn at rest). It's generally recommended to get two sessions of strength training in a week to work all major muscle groups (like your back, chest, legs, etc.). 

This may not be a shock, but diet is one of the biggest influences on your metabolic health5. Eating a macronutrient-balanced, nutrient-rich diet not only supports muscle growth from strength-training, but it plays a key role in promoting blood sugar balance, satiety, and fat metabolism.

Targeted supplementation via mbg's metabolism+ may be a great addition to a metabolically focused daily routine. 

This multidimensional formula features four plant extracts (capsaicin, veld grape, and caffeine and EGCG from green tea) that have been clinically studied to drive energy expenditure, support a healthy body composition, and regulate appetite hormones.*