Can You Burn Calories Just By Thinking Really, REALLY Hard?

If you've ever attempted a Sudoku puzzle, then the chances are you've felt the burn in your skull that rivals DOMs following leg day. It's the same weariness that washes over you after a big day at work, or following a deep emotional discussion with your missus. So if you feel tired after some solid brain activation, does that mean you're burning calories thinking? Could it be possible to think yourself skinny?

“The basic answer is yes,” says Ewan McNay to Time.  Lucky you're reading Men's Health then; an intellectual publication such as this is sure to roast a few extra calories!

McNay, who is the assistant professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Albany, has studied how the brain uses energy to perform, and puts it simply in his research;

"[The brain] is still an energy-system subject to the laws of physics. Chief among these constraints is that no work can be performed without energy. Despite the seemingly self-evident nature of this premise, energy models of cognition have had a turbulent history since their conception." (Full disclosure, we just burnt a few calories trying to decode that last sentence.)

According to the experts like McNay, the brain runs on glucose, and the harder your brain works, the more glucose is burnt. Ie. solving maths problems will burn more than scrolling through Em Ratajkowski's Instagram feed... although what is a better use of your time is subjective.