Horror movie fan, you either are or you aren’t. We have good news for the horror lovers among us! Research has shown that you burn a lot of calories while watching such a scary movie. Grab the popcorn: you’d burn that many calories watching a horror movie.
Also read: 3 films that make you look at life differently
Burn calories with horror movies
Who would have thought burning calories would be so easy? Research from the University of Westminster has shown that you burn a lot of calories when you watch a horror film. The average amount per film would be around 133 kcal. Wow!
Research
That’s all well and good, but how did this research work? During the experiment, ten films were shown to test subjects. This showed that all hearts started beating faster. Lead researcher Richard Mackenzie says: “When that happens, the blood is pumped through the body faster, causing the body to experience a rush of adrenaline.” This adrenaline ensures that you have less appetite and that food is digested faster. Put that popcorn away then… Anyway, ultimately the film in the horror genre ensures that you burn calories.
We now know that you burn about 133 kcal per film, but the University of Westminster study also investigated how many calories you burn with various horror films. The test subjects burned a lot more while watching The Shining: no less than 184 kcal. You can compare this with half an hour of walking!
List of horror films
Curious about the rest of the movies and how many calories they burn? Below we have made a top ten list. Which one are you going to watch tonight?
- The Shining – 184 kcal
- Jaws – 161 calories
- The Exorcist – 158 kcal
- Alien – 152 kcal
- Saw – 133 kcal
- A Nightmare on Elm Street – 118 calories
- Paranormal Activity – 111 kcal
- The Blair Witch Project – 105 kcal
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – 107 kcal
- [REC] – 101 kcal
Also read: These are the best rom-coms for a night at home
