feel the burn - studying and calories

[tivol at tethys.ph.albany.edu]

In article <D0GsMI.Kyy at crash.cts.com>,
jocele at crash.cts.com (Jocele Pao-yu Wang) writes:
>Hi everyone -
>	How much energy does hard concentration take up?  I know I'm
>always very tired after intense studying, even though I've just been
>sitting still and not moving.  I've heard that studying burns as many
>calories as hard exercise, and while I suspect it is a bit of an
>exaggeration, there must be _some_ truth to it...
>	welp, back to the books!
>	
>	- jocele =)
>
Dear Jocele,
	It's probably not the concentration as much as the stress of keeping
your head, back, etc. in the same position.  Try "studying" a blank notebook
(in your copious free time, as Tom Lehrer would say), and see if you are not
even more tired.  It is true, however, that just being awake uses up a lot of
calories--my guess is that maintaining ion gradients across nerve cells con-
tributes to this energy requirement.
				Yours,
				Bill Tivol