Revealed: How Many Calories A Click Of The Mouse Burns

Attention all office desk-sitters... it's not all that bad.

Exercise mightn't be a massive part of your day-to-day antics, unless you force yourself into your runners for a brisk walk after work, but you're not the only ones out there.

According to a 2011 study published in the journal PLoS One, 80 per cent of jobs in America require little to no physical activity... and we can only presume the number isn't too far of that on this side of the Atlantic either.

Couple that with an office desk filled with munchies, treats and tempting bites, and we're probably all consuming far more calories than we're burning.

But this is the (somewhat) good news.

Another report, called Convert Anything to Calories, has calculated the number of calories burned through the monotonous activities typical of desk job workers.

It even includes clicking a mouse.

So, here's the inside information...

Rocket News 24 reports:

"On average, 16.7 micromoles of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) are consumed in moving one gram of muscle for one second. So, the total amount of ATP burned to move 11.7 grams of muscle in the index finger is approximately 195 micromoles (11.7g×16.7μ mol/g). There are 7.3 calories in one mole of ATP energy, so the number of calories burned in clicking the mouse equals about 1.42 (7.3/1000) X 195)."

In layman terms? About 1.42 calories per click.

Now, we're not advocating mouse-clicking as your maximum daily exercise output, the miniscule results aren't enough.

But to put it into perspective:

Did you treat yourself to a bag of Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps? That's equal to 94 clicks of the mouse. 

A cup of tea? Time to click the mouse 11 times... 

Or was it a Dairy Milk bar? That's another 94 clicks of the mouse...