Counteracting post-study food binges

A BUSY brain can mean a hungry body. We often seek food after focused mental activity, like preparing for an exam or poring over spreadsheets. 

Researchers speculate that heavy bouts of thinking drain energy from the brain, whose capacity to store fuel is very limited.

So the brain, sensing that it may soon require more calories to keep going, apparently stimulates bodily hunger, and even though there has been little in the way of physical movement or caloric expenditure, we eat.