Study Finds That Exercise Can Help Curb Overeating

Impact

To help combat the food coma that comes with overeating and snacking, try exercising, a new study suggests.

In the study, 38 student participants were assigned to one of two groups: those who completed mental tasks and then took a 15-minute rest; and those who completed mental tasks and did a 15-minute workout. Afterward, all of those lucky participants were given a pizza lunch. The participants came back a separate time to eat pizza after just resting with no workout or mental task. It turned out that the students who had to work out ate the least amount of pizza. 

These results indicate that not only do mental tasks make people want to eat more, but that exercise can help resist that urge by providing an energy boost and regulating hormones that make us hungry, Time reported.

Those who rested after completing their mental tasks ate about 100 calories more than those who just got to rest and eat pizza.

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"Exercise has the ability to increase available fuel sources in the body that may signal to the brain: 'Here is the energy source I need, I don't need to replenish it through food,'" study author William H. Neumeier said, according to Time

A 2014 study backs this theory, having found that high-intensity intermittent exercise in particular helped overweight inactive men eat less post-workout. 

Is there anything exercise can't do

Read more: Here's How Just 1 Minute of Exercise Can Make a Difference