Who is the latest up and coming underwear designer? The Mayo Clinic

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic learn your secrets if you have been one of the select few to wear a set of underwear with racy-looking cutouts at the crotch and backside, and pockets holding position and motion sensors dangling a half dozen tangled wires.

In January, the scientists here who designed the underwear reported a striking difference in activity levels between lean people and overweight ones. Their study, published in Science, did not involve deliberate exercise, but it measured - with the help of the sensors - how much people moved about naturally and spontaneously.

The heavier ones tended to sit, while the lean ones were more restless and spent two more hours a day on their feet - standing, pacing around and fidgeting. The difference translated into 350 calories a day, enough for the heavy people to take off 30 to 40 pounds a year, if they would get moving.

The researchers believe the tendency to sit still or move around is biological and inborn, governed by genetically determined levels of brain chemicals. And that tendency influences weight - not the other way around, the researchers say.

---

Posted by Lawren at May 26, 2005 07:19 AM

You Said

I'm done with exercising. I'm just going to stop taking that Prozac and go back to fidgeting all day.

Says: Citizen of the Month at May 26, 2005 03:08 PM

---