Why does playing chess consume that many calories but playing videogames, which, in theory, uses a lot of brain capacity, doesn’t?
In: Biology
Your brain is a huge calorie hog…thinking hard requires a lot of energy.
Most videogames, however, don’t actually require a lot of thinking, especially when you get good. They require a lot of *attention*, but that’s not the same thing. Practicing video games is all about establishing muscle memory and reflexes so that you *don’t* have to think hard, you just react. This is sometimes called getting into a “flow state” which is very efficient but not like the type of thinking you do in chess. There’s no such thing as a “chess reflex” beyond a few standard openings.
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