Teens Who Play Video Games Eat More

Everyone knows that kids who play video games all day don't have time to exercise and thus, often weigh more than kids who do spend time outside. But scientists only recently discovered that gaming teens are more likely to be heavy for another reason as well -those that spend an hour gaming typically eat more afterward than those that don't.
What the study found is that the teenagers who were playing games eat, on average, 163 calories more than the teenagers who were doing something else. On top of that, the gamers didn’t actually burn any more calories than the control group, so the increased calorie intake wasn’t replaced by the energy spent on all that thumb movement or anything. There were also no biological indicators of stress in these gamers, so that couldn’t explain it either.

What do you guys think the reason for the increased caloric intake was? Do you tend to eat more while gaming?

Link Via Geekosystem

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"The teens who spent an hour seated and resting burned about the same amount of calories as the teens who played seated video games."

Doesn't this sound wrong to anybody?

"Gamers and television watchers both take in more calories in the absence of hunger,"

All very strange. I can believe television is boring and you start eating, but gaming is not boring or you wouldn't be doing it, it's not passive like TV.
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But hasn't the idea been that people who watch tv - couch potatoes - eat more while they're sitting there? Maybe it has more to do with the inactivity.
Does one eat more after being on the computer?

I think you would need to compare it to other sedentary activities.
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I suspect it has a good deal to do with activating the body's limbic system. In the wild, a flight or flight response would certainly necessitate more food afterward to recapture expended energy. If you are placed in an adrenaline producing situation without exertion, I suspect the body is still programmed to want to additional nourishment, probably with a preference for fats and sugars.
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i would guess that many games involve a non-trivial mental exertion that actually does require nutrient replenishment. However, its very likely many gamers are not getting the specific nutrient their bodies crave, but rather attempting to satisfy that craving with whatever is handy. If you don't give your body the nutrient it needs, you end up feeling hungry even though you already ate.
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