There is finally a way out to burn down those calories by just sitting in your armchair.

Researchers say that playing Sudoku an hour a day or solving crosswords or any other brain-training exercise can burn more calories that can be found in a biscuit.

They further say that two hours of brain activity everyday could allow you to loose on a bag of Maltesers or a packet of Hula Hoops, which is when you are not really watching your weight.

Tim Forrester who is a mental agility expert and works on the brain training website Cannyminds.com, has made this discovery.

"Our brains require 0.1 calories every minute simply to survive, when we do something challenging such as a puzzle or a quiz, we burn through 1.5 calories every minute," he said.

Millions of neurons come together to form the brain. It is these neurons which communicate with each other and transmit messages to and from the body tissues.

The neurons produce chemicals called the neurotransmitters to relay signals and it is these chemicals which require glucose, calories and oxygen to work effectively.
 
Therefore, the more the brain used, the more the calories burnt.