![UAlbany Professor Says ‘Thinking’ Burns Calories](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2017/11/RS16093_497785784.jpg?w=980&q=75)
UAlbany Professor Says ‘Thinking’ Burns Calories
For those who think they can 'think' their way to losing weight, this is great news. Sort of.
Some days. you just feel exhausted because you are mentally spent, right? Well, apparently there could be something to using your brain and than feeling a lack of energy.
UAlbany associate professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience Ewan McNay recently told Time that you do burn energy by thinking! McNay also says that certain 'brain activities' burn more calories than others. So maybe like may at first read here you are thinking actual thinking burns energy, but only a little bit, right? I mean, how much energy could your brain actually use?
This was the stat that really jumped out at me from the Time article. Dr. Marcus Raichle, a professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, told Time our brains account for 20% of our energy use. That sounds like a lot, right? He says that works out to about 320 calories a day for the average person.
When you consider the average person maybe consumes about 2000-2500 calories a day. That means just by thinking, you are burning of 13-16% of the calories you take in. Now for an idiot like me, that number is more like 40-50%! Ha!
Now the question that may come u p - can you lose weight by thinking? Probably not. But it can't hurt!
More From 107.7 WGNA
![New York State Makes Buffalo Energy Company Pay For Deceiving Customers](http://townsquare.media/site/11/files/2022/03/attachment-sean-d-YO5q_7BN7kQ-unsplash.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![New York Could Make It Daylight Saving Time All Year Long](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2018/11/RS3894_77885593.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Upstate NY Lake Among Time’s Top 10 US Destinations](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2017/03/tupper.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Here’s the Face Recognition Test That Sean and Bethany Failed This Morning](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2011/11/109912549.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![New York Is Ranked #1 – The Most Energy Efficient State](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2015/09/GettyImages-185048490.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![You’ll Send About 900,000 Emails in Your Life (And More Useless Facts About Work)](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2011/03/cubicles.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Don’t Make Dinner Tonight – Here’s Why](http://townsquare.media/site/81/files/2015/06/IMG_8416-e1433173804184.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Weird Dreams and What They Mean](http://townsquare.media/site/757/files/2015/02/Sleeping.jpg?w=980&q=75)