Researchers found the stress of thinking caused overeating with heavy thinkers seeking out more calories.

    The research team, supervised by Dr Angelo Tremblay, measured the spontaneous food intake of 14 students after each of three tasks.

    The first was relaxing in a sitting position, the second reading and summarizing a text, and finally completing a series of memory, attention, and vigilance tests on the computer.

    After 45 minutes at each activity, participants were invited to eat as much as they wanted from a buffet.

    The researchers had already discovered that each session of intellectual work requires only three calories more than the rest period.

    However, despite the low energy cost of mental work, the students spontaneously consumed 203 more calories after summarizing a text and 253 more calories after the computer tests.

    This represents a 23.6 per cent and 29.4 per cent increase, respectively, compared with the rest period.

    Blood samples taken before, during, and after each session revealed that intellectual work causes much bigger fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels than rest periods.

    Jean-Philippe Chaput, the study's main author, said: "These fluctuations may be caused by the stress of intellectual work, or also reflect a biological adaptation during glucose combustion."

    The body could be reacting to these fluctuations by spurring food intake in order to restore its glucose balance, the only fuel used by the brain.

    Mr Chaput added: "Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work, combined with the fact we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialised countries.

    "This is a factor that should not be ignored, considering that more and more people hold jobs of an intellectual nature."

    The results of the study, carried out at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada, are published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. 

    研究人員發現, 思考的壓力會導致飲食過量

    由安吉羅.川柏雷所領導的研究團隊, 針對14位學生在正常三餐以外, 無意識的飲食習性做出上述結論

    實驗分為三步驟: 首先是放松的閑坐著; 接下來是閱讀與匯整資料; 最后是在電腦上完成一系列有關記憶, 注意力與警覺性的測試.

    每一步驟進行45分鐘, 結束時受測者均可以無限制的隨意享用餐點

    研究人員發現, 相較于其它兩個步驟, 需要動腦筋的步驟僅需多耗約三個卡路里的能量

    雖然動腦筋只消耗少量的卡路里, 但學生們卻無意識地在匯整資料后多消耗203卡, 而在完成電腦相關測試后多耗了253卡

    也就是相較于放松的閑坐, 對于卡路里的需求, 后兩個步驟分別增長了23.6%與29.4%

    而分別在測試前, 中, 后所做的血液抽樣檢驗也顯示, 需要動腦的步驟對于葡萄糖與胰島素的需求波動遠大于其他的步驟.

    該實驗的主要實施人, 琴-菲利浦. 查普特說: 這種波動可能來自于腦力激蕩后所帶來的壓力, 也可能反映出身體機能在調適上對于葡萄糖的消耗需求變動

    我們的身體會因為大腦執行作業而消耗能量, 于是藉由攝取食物以均恒體內葡萄糖的方式來對這種變動采取反應

    查普特先生補充: 由于在腦力活動后對于熱量的過度補充, 加上在腦力活動時一般很少有相對應的體力消耗, 于是造成現在很多工業化國家中常見的肥胖現象

    “這是一項不容忽視的重要因素, 特別是越來越多人從事著腦力活動的工作＂

    該項研究報告由加拿大魁北克省Laval大學完成, 并刊載于＂身體與心理醫學＂雜志