A new study conducted by the Canadian researchers show that too much thinking can make you fat. Researchers found that the heavy thinkers consumed more calories.

The Telegraph reported that Dr Angelo Tremblay supervised the research team and after each of three tasks, the research team measured the spontaneous food intake of 14 students. The first task was relaxing in a sitting position, the second was reading and summarizing a text and the last was completing a series of memory, attention and vigilance tests on the computer.

After 45 minutes of every task, all participants were invited to eat from a buffet. It was found that after summarizing a text and after the computer tests, the students spontaneously consumed 203 and 253 more calories respectively which show a 23.6 % and 29.4% increase compared with the rest period.

According to the study's main author Jean-Philippe Chaput, the blood samples taken before, during, and after each session showed that there is much bigger fluctuations in the glucose and insulin levels than the rest periods. Chaput said: “These fluctuations may be caused by the stress of intellectual work or reflect a biological adaptation during glucose combustion.”

He added: “Caloric overcompensation following the intellectual work, combined with the fact that we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in the industrialized countries.”

The study is published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.