London: Solving puzzles is not only a good
exercise for your brain, it also helps burn 90 calories within
an hour, a new research claims.
"Our brains require 0.1 calories every minute simply to
survive. When we do something challenging such as a puzzle or
a quiz we can burn through 1.5 calories every minute," said
lead researcher Tim Forrester from cannyminds.com.
Thus, "doing puzzles and quizzes burns an average of 90
calories every hour," Forrester was quoted as saying by Daily
Mail.
Explaining the process, he said, the brain is made up of
millions of nerve cells called neurons which produces
neurotransmitters -- the chemicals used to relay signals -- to
transmit messages to the body.
Neurons extract three-quarters of sugar glucose,
available calories and a fifth of oxygen from the blood to
create neurotransmitters, he said.
So, doing difficult crosswords or challenging Sudokus
means your brain will crave more glucose and more calories
too, he added.
Hence, if you spent an hours solving puzzles, you would
have used 90 calories - which is more than that contained in a
chocolate chip cookie (56 calories) or a custard cream (57
calories) or a jammy dodger (85 calories).
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 17:38