Guest guest Posted October 21, 1999 Report Share Posted October 21, 1999 For this week the topic will be: WHY SOME PEOPLE CAN EAT WHATEVER THEY WANT AND NOT GAIN WEIGHT Today's sub-topics are THE FIDGET FACTOR AND NERVOUS ENERGY. ----------------------------------------------------- THE FIDGET FACTOR In the calorie-measuring room experiment, Ravussin discovered that people have different " fidget " levels. Fidgeting is spontaneous [hysical activity or movement made without thinking. Examples of fidgeting are twirling your hair as you talk on the telephone, or jiggling your leg as you work at your desk. he discovered that there is a big difference in ythe way people perform an everyday activity like watching TV. Some people sat as still as statues without moving a muscle. Others couldn't stop from changing positions every so often. Others kept getting up and moving around the room. Ravussin calculated that fidgeting alone could burn anywhere from 300 to 800 calories a day. He found that the tendency to fidget or be restless also ran in families. NERVOUS ENERGY We are talking here about high-strung, " hyper " , tense or nervious people. Ravussin theorized that since nerves control things like muscle tension, breathing, heart rate, etc., people whose nerves are running at a higher level than everyone elses's will burn more calories even when they are forced to lie still. In the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, researchers Levin and Norman Eberhardt fed 16 normal weight men and women an extra 1,000 calories for two months. The participants refrained from exercising. The weight gain ranged from 2-16 pounds.The ones who were the most nervous and " hyper " gained the least. (to be continued...) Tomorrow: BODY HEAT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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