Does thinking burn more calories than not thinking?
 

Kind of curious, haven't been able to find anything, maybe the health buffs can answer.

If you spend all day deep in mental thought (research, writing, math, work, etc) do you burn more calories than if you sat around watching TV all day? And if not, why are you so much more tired after the day of thinking than the day without?

thats not exactly true, if you spend all day on the sofa watching tv you will be tired at the end of the day too...

i think both are mental stimulants, therefore both would burn the same amount of calories (if thinking did burn calories)

I doubt it, unless the mental thoughts were to make you extremely anxious and sped up your heart rate/increases your body temperature/etc.

No. Same idea as 'don't eat late, you won't burn the calories as you sleep'. See Snopes.

probably burns more, but not significantly more than non-thinking... if just living uses 20 calories per hour, living and thinking, perhaps 25/calories per hour...

i believe it does.
more neurons are triggering and new connections are being formed. that requires energy.
staring at a tv does not stimulate the brain much at all.

to answer ur question look for brain activity research (brain scans and stuff) during certain activities instead of looking up calories burned.

more activity=more calories

does breathing burn more calories than not breathing?

Sitting or watching movies doesn't burn much calories at all. Mental stress can be very tiring though.