The other night Jon, my mom (who was visiting), and I were up chatting and somehow the topic of studying came up. Can you see where I am going with this?
Jon made the statement that he thinks studying burns a lot of calories. I looked at him with THAT look...you know.... the one that says PULEEEEZZZ! He said that he gets so tired and physically drained that it must burn a lot of calories. He said that "all that thinking" burns calories because his head gets hot.
I said, "Maybe from your eyes moving back and forth." And then my mom and I laughed.
Jon is a smart guy so he could be onto something. Maybe I am too much of a skeptic.
What do you think? Does studying burn extra calories?
I'm a Texan born woman transplanted across the ocean to live in England with my husband and four boys. Aside from being a stay-at-home mom, I teach birth classes for couples who want to birth naturally. My blog is about my life and how I stay sane through it all.
7 comments:
OK -- Just cause I'm Jon's mom I had to look this up. http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/Calories_Burned.asp says a 160 pound person burns 131 calories and hour while studying or reading...hmmmm I wonder how many I can burn while sleeping ... I get hot too! :-) Love you all,
Welllll, it's not like he's overweight...so maybe he's right?! I do have to say that the days I have co-op (I use my brain more here) that I am able to eat more! Go Study -Keep thin! Write a book about it--get rich!!
Yeah--but how many calories do you burn just sitting?
Okay. Let's be clear. I didn't say I burn A LOT of calories while studying. I just said some... you know, more than you might think. It's not just that my head gets hot, it's also that my body gets very tired - physically. I need to sleep and eat to restore the energy I drained. But, I know very well that lots of people gain weight in school because they don't exercise enough, probably including me...
but thanks, honey for being kind in your post here... you could have made me sound a lot more ridiculous!
Mimi and Jon:
It appears you were both right: Studying burns 131 calories per hour while sitting quietly only burns 73 calories per hour. Even though most of us can't or don't have the luxury of just sitting quietly without doing something (at least reading which burns 94 calories) studying still burns more calories than just plain reading. Here are some calorie counts for 1 hour of activity (or non-activity) that I found at www.caloriesperhour.com:
Sleeping - 65 calories in 1 hr
Folding Clothes - 145calories in 1 hr
Studying - sitting 131 calories in 1 hr
Sitting - spectating at sports event 109 calories in 1 hr
Sitting - quietly (e.g., watching TV) 73 calories in 1 hr
Sitting - light work 109 calories in 1 hr
Sitting - moderate work 181 calories in 1 hr
While I was wrong to laugh at Jon's statement because he was right, it was a funny comment. I am sorry I laughed out of line, Jon!
just for the record, there are plenty of fat scholars. so, you can't go to the buffet just because you studied real hard. In fact, I bet more people eat while they study thus counteracting any calorie loss.
i think you are right lauren! otherwise i never would have gained the "freshman 15"!
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