According to media reports, due to the brain's constant thinking, some top chess players burn up to 6,000 calories in a day, and can still sit for the whole day. Some people can't help but just think big: Now that the weather is getting colder and you want to save more heat, in addition to wearing thick clothes and eating constantly, isn't it helpful to stop thinking?  

If you consume more energy can you lose weight by using your brain?

　　The brain is the most energy-consuming organ of the human body.
　　"Of all human organs, the brain is indeed the most energy-consuming part." , Yue Tong, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Southwest University, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily reporters.

　　Some experts point out that when the body is at a standstill (that is, it does not participate in any activity other than basic breathing, digestion, and maintaining body temperature), the brain consumes up to 20% to 25% of the entire body's energy consumption. These energy are mainly Consumed in the form of glucose. During childhood, the brain was even more "greedy." Children aged five or six years can consume up to 60% of their body's energy. Although the brain weighs only 2% of the total body weight, its "greedy" glucose habit makes it the organ that consumes the most energy in the body at rest.

　　Yue Tong said that for ordinary people, the brain generally consumes 260 calories per day, which is about the calories of two bananas. The energy consumed is mainly used for the transmission of neural signals. For example, neuron synapses are stimulated to emit electrical signals, neurons release neurotransmitters, neurotransmitters combine with receptors to open ion channels, and action potentials are transmitted along neuron axons.
　　"Also, the brain never stops to rest. Even during sleep, it needs energy to maintain the transmission of signals between cells to ensure normal body function. Not only that, there are some cells dedicated to delivering nutrients to neurons And these cells also need a certain amount of glucose to survive and work. The combination of these many consumptions makes the organ, which does not have a high weight ratio in the brain, become the organ that consumes the most energy. "Yue Tong said.

　Losing weight by thinking hard

　"Although the harder the brain works, the more energy it consumes. However, trying to achieve the goal of losing weight through the form of" exercise "of the brain may be very difficult in practice." Yue Tong emphasized.
　　He explained that, first of all, the working state of the brain consumes more energy than the resting state. This is mainly related to the working mode of the brain. In the absence of external stimuli, the brain still needs to consume a lot of energy to support the neural network online. This uninterrupted information transmission is the default mode of the brain. In fact, most of the brain's energy is consumed by those activities performed "in the dark". In contrast, when performing specific tasks, the brain's energy consumption does not increase by more than 5% of basic neural activity. In other words, if you think hard and don't want to be in a daze, the energy consumption of your brain will not be very different.

　　Secondly, some studies do find that when people are not good at a particular task, they will pay more energy, which means more energy is needed. But as time goes on, people become more and more proficient at performing specific tasks, and the brain no longer needs to work so hard to complete it, so the energy required to do this task will eventually become less and less.

　　"Finally, and most crucially, the human brain has a single energy source and only consumes glucose." Yue Tong said that once the glucose content in the blood drops below a certain level, the brain's work efficiency will decrease, such as difficulty in concentration, When the response is slow and the blood sugar is reduced to a certain level, people will feel hungry, their appetite will rise, and they will always want to eat. Therefore, when the intensity of the brain is high, people are more likely to be hungry. In contrast, muscles are less "picky". Although muscles also preferentially use glucose, when glucose levels in the blood decrease, they are willing to switch energy sources and rely on burning fat to provide energy. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, you have to rely on sports, not sitting at home and meditating.

　　Therefore, Yue Tong believes that the chess players reported in the media burn 6000 calories a day, which is more likely due to stress. Faced with the stress of the game, it increases heart rate, increases breathing, sweating, and decreases appetite. These effects add up and consume more calories over time. The brain consumes more energy due to thinking, which may only account for a small part of this process. (Reporter Fu Lili)