What’s on your mind right now? Work? Errands you have to run later? We’re always thinking, pretty much 24/7. Did you know that your brain never shuts off, even when you are asleep? Your thalamus, the part of the brain responsible for sensory signals and consciousness, quiets for the majority of the sleep cycle, allowing you to get that much-needed shut-eye. Other parts of the brain like the amygdala are more active during sleep stages. While your consciousness may not always be thinking, your brain is always on and thinking about keeping you alive. And yes, this burns calories!
So, if we’re always thinking and thinking burns calories, then are we always burning calories? Again, technically yes! It’s not necessarily a calories per thought measurement, but the functions of maintaining your body such as thinking do create a consistent energy expenditure.
Thinking burns calories, but the amount of energy needed to think will change throughout the day. Certain states of mind like being stressed can have a different impact on the brain.
Science Behind the Calories Burned by Thinking
The brain has about 86 million neurons, actively communicating and firing back to send signals around the body. These neurons rely on glucose to function properly by breaking this sugar down into Adenosine triphosphate (APT), the essential molecule to provide energy for cellular function. Even the quick electrical impulses that neurons send to each other when they talk — action potentials — require energy to pump ions and maintain the electrical balance.
You might remember from high school that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. This is where glucose is turned into energy used by the brain. If the mitochondria in the brain cells are damaged, an individual can suffer from inadequate APT production, resulting in nausea, dizziness, and general fatigue.
How Many Calories Does Your Brain Burn?
You will burn calories thinking, but because this output of energy is relatively steady, the effect on the body is minuscule compared to exercise, even low-impact physical activity. There are a few factors that contribute to how many calories the brain needs to function, including:
- Baseline brain activity: The brain consumes 20% of an individual’s daily caloric expenditure. That equates to about 300-400 calories for the average person per day. This percentage only accounts for baseline activity essential for keeping the body functioning. This is a consistent output and does increase depending on what else the brain is using energy on.
- Metabolic cost of brain function: The brain’s baseline caloric need is termed the metabolic cost of function. In order to think, process signals, and communicate with the rest of the body, the brain needs glucose and oxygen for fuel. A portion of the energy stored by everything you eat will go to fuel these baseline functions that you don’t need to consciously think about. In growing kids and teens, this percentage can increase, thus causing the notorious heavy-hunger phase a lot of adolescents experience.
- Energy demand for cognitive tasks: More taxing conscious activities like learning something new or solving complex problems can increase energy demand in the brain slightly. This is due to the higher rates of neuron firing, especially in areas controlling problem-solving, attention, and memory.
- Nutrient availability and diet: The brain’s primary food source is glucose. Habits like not skipping meals and exercising daily are good for the brain because making these choices will regulate glucose levels over time. Diets that are rich in brain-boosting nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins can optimize how the brain uses energy.
- Situational factors: Being under stress or experiencing another intense emotional state can change how the brain burns calories because metabolism increases slightly. The calorie difference may not be noticeable, but it will be reflected in your effort and energy levels throughout the day. When metabolism increases and no additional fuel is allocated for the energy needed, physical symptoms like dizziness and nausea may present because of fatigue.
Which muscles burn the most calories?
The body expends energy differently throughout the body. Some muscle groups are engaged more, and others less. When you work out, it can feel like certain parts of the body require much more persistence to work out. This feeling may be caused by the energy demand required to activate them.
Ultimately, the muscle group that burns the most energy when exercising is whatever is being targeted, but generally speaking, these muscle groups consume the most energy when working out:
- Legs: Your legs carry your whole body’s weight. We rely on muscles like the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves to stand upright and walk around. Even when you work out your arms, chest, or back, you may be engaging certain leg muscles for support and stability.
- Core: Simple movements like sitting up, twisting from side to side, and bending over will require more engagement. Almost all movements will engage the core in some way. The abdominals, obliques, and lower back muscles work together with the legs to support balance and flexibility.
- Back: We engage back muscles for posture and movements like lifting, pushing, and pulling. Just like with the leg and core muscles, you will engage your back muscles while targeting other muscle groups because of the crucial role those muscles play in the body’s functionality.
Does Thinking Hard Burn More Calories?
Thinking will contribute to your daily metabolic cost of brain function, but the calories burned by this baseline function will not replace the calories you can burn with physical exercise. Intense periods of thinking hard can create a temporary spike in metabolism as the rise in stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline gets blood pumping and increases blood circulation. Even though the brain is an energy-intensive organ, it relies on glucose which can be readily replenished with meals. In periods where you endure high mental exertion, it’s important to eat balanced and consistent meals to restore the lost energy.
Does Stress Burn Calories?
Stress can lead to a slight increase in calorie burn. When we feel stressed, hormones like adrenaline are released into the body and can affect how calories for brain function are burned. However, the effects of stress can have such a hindering effect on general health that those calories don’t mean much compared to your healthy baseline. For instance, chronic stress can lead to habits like overeating, undereating, or neglecting physical exercise. As mentioned before, a consistent routine is important for regulating the metabolic rate. Without proper regulation, the imbalance can further change how the body burns calories.
Does Studying Burn Calories?
The baseline calories that an individual burns from functions like breathing and thinking are not noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. Your body burns more calories by doing low-impact light exercises such as walking. However, compared to passive activities like watching TV or scrolling through social media, studying burns a significant amount of calories. Studying engages many cognitive processes like concentration, comprehension, analysis, and memorization. Any activity that requires increased cognitive ability should raise the calorie expenditure, but it won’t make a noticeable difference compared to daily physical activity.
Intense Mental Exertion and Calories Burned
The human brain is incredibly resilient and can manage long periods of stress, blank, or other mental exertion. However, when pushed too far, the brain can burn out and shut off, refusing to take on any more high-energy tasks until it can replenish the exhausted reserves. You may slightly increase your calorie expenditure with a period of intense mental exertion, but brain workouts do not demand significantly more energy than normal.
Why Do We Feel Tired After Exerting Energy?
Getting tired after exerting energy on cognitive functions is the body’s natural response to let you know that it’s time to rest. You’ll begin to feel tired when your brain has strained from excessive output, and this is a signal that glucose reserves are low. That’s why you may feel a short burst of energy after eating sugar, even if you’re tired.
How Different Parts of The Brain Burn Calories
We do burn calories thinking, but how? The many parts of the brain have different energy demands to account for the complexity of their tasks. Here is a breakdown of how some major areas of the brain use calories:
- Prefrontal cortex: The prefrontal cortex is responsible for managing high-level processes such as decision-making, problem-solving, and planning. When met with a complex task, this part of the brain will light up like the night sky. Areas of the brain that promote high-level activity will require more energy expenditure.
- Hippocampus: This region of the brain is responsible for memory and spatial navigation. When learning new directions or retrieving information, you’ll engage the hippocampus. Energy demand for this part of the brain increases when forming memories, processing new environments, or recalling details.
- Amygdala: Your amygdala processes emotions like fear and excitement while also managing the brain’s reward center. This part of the brain expends more calories when experiencing intense emotions because of the release of hormones like adrenaline.
- Cerebellum: The cerebellum is almost always active because it controls fine motor skills like typing, driving, cleaning, and almost any task that requires precise coordination. From general tasks like walking to specific, detail-oriented tasks such as furniture assembly, the cerebellum is responsible for regulating movements.
- Temporal lobes: The brain has two temporal lobes: one on the left and the other on the right. These centers are involved in auditory processing, language comprehension, and aspects of memory. Energy demand heightens when in complex listening contexts or multilingual environments.
Is It Possible to Exercise Your Brain?
There are many ways to strengthen your brain with exercise. Just like with any other type of physical training, the key is training and consistent effort to function at the highest potential. Experiment with some of the brain-boosting hobbies on this list to see what you like best:
- Puzzle games: Games like sudoku, crosswords, and logic or jigsaw puzzles work out the brain by challenging problem-solving skills and engaging pattern recognition, critical thinking, and memory centers.
- Memory games: Card matching games, memory challenges, and even online apps designed for memory practice can be brain-boosting efforts. Games can be an entertaining and relaxed way to work out the brain.
- Learn a new language: Investing time to learn a new language can impact many areas of the brain and improve higher functions like cognitive flexibility. This is important for problem-solving, decision-making, and task management.
- Learn an instrument: Music itself engages the brain, but playing an instrument can target coordination and memory skills. From reading music to translating the notes into physical movements, the skills required to learn an instrument will target many centers of the brain.
- Reading comprehension exercises: Reading, vocabulary games, or even listening to audiobooks will stimulate the brain. Comprehension practice is productive for building critical thinking skills.
- Meditation: Among all of the active brain exercises you try, it is important to practice mindfulness and quiet the brain. Meditation practices can also be healthy for the brain, promoting emotional regulation and focus.
- Writing or journaling: Writing can help provide clarity when the mind is chaotically racing. This is a good way to help organize your thoughts, which can improve memory and self-reflection skills. Start by writing about whatever thoughts are running through your head, and then you’ll find the train of thought flows by itself.
- Cooking and baking: Cooking as a hobby is a great way to exercise the brain because through experimentation comes problem-solving and quick thinking when adjusting recipes and exploring new flavors. As an activity, cooking boosts creativity, too!
Calories Burned Thinking in a Nutshell
Thinking is a basic function that will require energy used by the brain. Our baseline functions, such as thinking, will burn a good amount of calories every day, but cannot be compared to physical activity like exercise. Because our bodies are used to expending energy for the metabolic cost of brain function, the calories burned thinking won’t be noticeable. However, more critical thinking skills like solving problems and learning new information will burn more calories. Sustaining the brain with a balance of nourishment, rest, and activity will not only enhance cognitive performance but also support long-term brain health.
