Well, the title of this posting should get your attention. I have not lost my mind, but a new study by Laval University found that your mind engaging in deep thought might be responsible for a few of those extra pounds.
It seems that being at the office for 12 hours day AND engaging in heavy duty intellectual work is a double whammy against that bikini body you want. In the study, students who were offered all the food they wanted after difficult academic tests ate almost 30% more calories than those sitting on the couch. There was even a marked difference between students taking easy tests versus hard ones.
The research showed that blood glucose levels were actually lower after periods of deep thought, and the body demands glucose be replenished. The brain cannot produce its own glucose, and brain cells requires twice as much as other cells.
So, what does this mean for you if you have a job that requires you to be mentally sharp every day? As always, you need to have a strategy to compensate for it:
- Realize that after a long day of thinking for a living, you are going to be starving. Do not chow down an entire Thanksgiving dinner 10 minutes after you get home. Eat slow and eat healthy.
- Keep snacks in your desk drawer and eat a little something every couple of hours. One of those little sleeves of peanuts you get at the convenience store or a piece of fruit should do the trick. Don't let your brain glucose tank get too low.
- If you think a lot, you are going to eat a lot. That means you need to exercise a lot. Pretty simple concept. So, do it.
Lawyers, bankers, executives, doctors all think for a living. But, being deep in thought all day can be dangerous to your health, so use that mental powerhouse of yours to make a plan to deal with the reality of being so profound.
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