Does thinking consume energy?
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Answers:
Your brain consumes about 20% of your daily intake of calories.
Not many.
Actually, using mental energy consumes a lot of calories, which is energy. not as much as excersising, but thinking can bring emotions that increase heart rate and can cause hyperactivity.
Yer noggin runs only on glucose, which is converted sugar that your body makes from carbohydrates: it's the fastest and hottest burning sugar (smallest molecule). It's made in your liver and kidneys from more raw (bigger) sugars, and the hormone insulin is made in your pancreas to control it's manufacture. It's been a long time since i took nutrition classes, but I believe it is thought that brain cells use twice as much (or more) energy than other cellular structures/organs in the body. When people suggest to wear a hat because of heat loss out through the top of your head, they're absolutely right. More than 20% of your energy is expended and heat generated by burning volitile sugars up there.
PET or positron emissions topography is a scanning piece of medical equipment that actually reads glucose metabolizing in certain structures of the brain, even in real time. Scientists and Doctors can hook patients up, ask them questions or to make movements and can see what part of the brain is at work accomplishing what.
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