Comments on: It's a New Phil, Week 7

By: Phil Bowermaster

Phil Bowermaster — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 21:25:23 +0000

Jim –

I read that same estimate of the brain’s overall share of the metabolic pie in On Intelligence. Very interesting about how parts of the brain shut down during creative activities — never heard that before.

Of course, even if your brain does burn more calories when watching football, the beer and Doritos make it kind of a wash.

By: Jim Strickland

Jim Strickland — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:56:53 +0000

I think Kathy was kidding, but I heard someplace that your brain eats up about 25% of your metabolic output. (Does anyone have any actual figures for this? I’m pretty sure mine came from a Discovery Channel program on separating conjoined twins.) So theoretically a well exercised brain should consume more energy than a sleeping one. Now, whether reading The Speculist consumes more energy than, say, watching football on TV is a matter for the neurologists in the readership to enlighten us on.

I read another interesting tidbit that when you are “thinking creatively” – writing, in the case of this particular example – most of your brain’s activity drops off, and you only get little bright spots in your cerebrum, your speech center, and various parts of your memory system. This reminded me of something I believe Picasso said: when he went to paint, he sat in his studio facing the canvas with a pencil between his thumb and finger and closed his eyes and let his mind drift. When he relaxed enough and moved close enough to sleep that the pencil fell out of his hand onto the floor, he was ready to paint.

The implication here is that “thinking creatively” shuts down most of the brain into a near sleep state, and, one imagines, cuts its energy consumption. One wonders if there’s not a connection between diet – the sudden explosion of carb-heavy diets and their side effects – and the exponential growth of mental stimulation from media, internet, etc.

So maybe watching football would consume more energy after all.

Jim

By: Kathy

Kathy — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:34:14 +0000

Has anyone figured how many calories you burn just being a Speculist? Hey, it takes a lot of fuel to keep that brain fired up! I am very serious about this. I think that the joke about mental gymnastics deserves some credibility.

By: ivankirigin

ivankirigin — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:03:26 +0000

I’m sure you’re also exercising more.

It increasing your muscle mass, which takes more energy to sustain. Constant caloric intake lower than BMR+Change while increasing muscle mass will lead to burning fat. I’m not sure how this evens out because muscle weighs 3 times as much as fat.

Also, exercise increases your metabolism for a short while after – between 20 min. to 4 hours, I’ve heard.

Either way, you’re doing really well!

By: Stephen Gordon

Stephen Gordon — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 16:51:49 +0000

Ditto what Jim said. You aren’t burning food in your body. Just take complex carbohydrates v. sugar. Generally, it takes more energy to process food that is better for you than simple sugars.

Pounds lost, whether fat or water, makes a big difference to your health. Excess water might even be more dangerous than excess fat. So, you get full credit for 28 pounds.

By: Jim Strickland

Jim Strickland — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 13:02:40 +0000

Several things. First, you are probably eating better. Remember that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie only in a lab calorimeter. Last I checked, no process in the (normally functioning) human body involves combustion. This especially applies to food with fiber, which you can’t digest, but which counts in overall calories.

Second, when you reduce your caloric intake, you risk having your body go into fuel saving mode, where your metabolic rate throttles back to conserve energy and fat for really hard times to come. By increasing your caloric intake a bit, you’ve probably nudged your metabolic rate up a little.

-Jim