<p>how many calories would a doctor burn on an average 24 hour day?.. with walking around and such.</p>
<p>then how many calories burnt on one fine day, racking the head with a special case? (or basically how many calories do you burn racking your brains out per hour)</p>
<p>We were taught in medical school that thinking hard does not increase brain metabolism. As for walking around, varies a great deal – not just depending on specialty but on what the doc happens to be doing that particular day and on which hospital. Rounds at a big hospital? Quite a bit of walking. ENT surgery? Sitting most of the time. Busy on-call night with several codes in the ICU? A little sprinting. Light on-call night sleeping? Well… sleeping. Etc.</p>
<p>I started wearing a pedometer a few months ago. Yesterday, I was at the hospital at 8 AM and left about 8:15 PM. My pedometer recorded about 9100 steps. Today, I was in at 8 AM and left about 7 PM, and my pedometer recorded about 7000 steps. </p>
<p>I assume the number of calories you burn depends on how fast you’re walking, what you’re carrying, what you’re doing when you see patients, and how much you weigh, but my pedometer tells me I used up about 290 and 220 calories yesterday and today, respectively.</p>
<p>I should also add that I’m currently on a consult service. This seems to entail a lot of walking around, so if I was on another service I might expect to walk less but stand more.</p>
<p>Since we’re on the topic, how many hospitals have gyms? If so, how many people use them? And do residents/busy docs have much time to use them?</p>
<p>I realize the answers probably vary, I’m mostly looking for your personal experiences.</p>