Watching scary thrillers helps lose calories

11 years ago | Posted in: Health | 617 Views

New research has revealed that watching a horror film could help dieters by burning up to 200 calories.

Researchers have rated the top ten calorie-burning films, The Daily Telegraph reports. According to the study watching a 90 minute-long horror film can be the equivalent to a half-hour walk or burn the same amount of energy as in a chocolate bar.

Topping the terrifying diet list is Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological thriller The Shining starring Jack Nicolson, which has often been dubbed the scariest film of all time. The average viewer consumes up to 184 calories watching it.

The second place goes to Jaws, the 1975 shark attack movie, where viewers burnt some 161 calories watching people being torn apart by the shark.

In third place is The Exorcist depriving viewers of around 158 calories. Watching Alien will take up to 152 calories. Saw comes next with 133 calories followed by A Nightmare on Elm Street with 118 calories. Seventh place in the rating was given to Paranormal Activity with 111 calories, eighth to The Blair Witch Project with 105 calories, ninth place was given to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with 107 calories and the tenth went to [Rec] with 101 calories.

The research was conducted at the University of Westminster. Scientists screened the horrors before ten different people, recording their heart beat rate, oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output to calculate the amount of calories they lose watching each film.

Each of the ten films tested set pulses racing, and sparking an increase in the heart rate of the case studies,” said Dr Richard Mackenzie, senior lecturer and specialist in cell metabolism and physiology at the University of Westminster.“As the pulse quickens and blood pumps around the body faster, the body experiences a surge in adrenaline. It is this release of fast acting adrenaline, produced during short bursts of intense stress (or in this case, brought on by fear), which is known to lower the appetite, increase the Basal Metabolic Rate and ultimately burn a higher level of calories,”he explained.

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