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YahooA living body has life and life is nothing but a force. This is called life-force (prana). As long as a being is alive, this life-force flows throughout the body and the functions of the body such as breathing, heart beating and digestion. However, the food we eat daily provides our body with calories which are later converted into energy when our body performs all internal and external functions. Let's see how much calories we intake daily through food and how much energy we spend through physical activities.
The total energy our body intakes from food daily is expended in three ways. One is the Basal Metabolic Rate which accounts for 60% to 70% of energy. The energy is used up for supporting the basic functions like heart beating, breathing, blinking and maintaining body temperature. Second is the Physical Activity which accounts for 20% to 30% of energy. This includes cooking, jogging, walking, climbing, manual labor and so on. Third is the Thermic Effect which accounts for 10% of energy intake. This is used up in the digestion of food. Therefore, most of the energy we intake is spent in BMR and Physical Activity.
Now we can calculate how much energy is spent in BMR by a man of 35 years in age, 60kg in weight and 165cm in height. Using the Harris-Benedict Formula it is 1475 calories. If the man is sedentary i.e., does no hard work, he spends 1770 calories of energy daily. Now suppose this man does hard labor as a railway coolie who carries luggage on head and transports them from different platforms by climbing up and down the foot overbridge to outside the station. He may carry luggage of different weight several times a day. Suppose he lifts luggage of 20kg from floor of platform to his head 20 times a day. Since his height is 165cm, using the simple formula energy = mgh, he spends 6468 joules or 1540 calories a day. Then suppose he climbs up the foot overbridge which may be 10m in height, only 10 times a day. Here his weight should be similar to the weight of luggage. By this he spends 78,400 joules or 18,666 calories a day. So total energy he spends in the platforms is 20206 calories. According to physics, no work is done carrying a load and walking horizontally. But physiologically there is great exertion and pain one suffers. Now add the calories spent by a sedentary man and calories spent by hard labor. This is around 20206 + 1770 + 21976 or 22,000 calories.
In daily life a poor coolie takes a simple diet like rice, vegetables and sometimes fish or meat. These foods may supply, on an average, 2500 calories daily. So how do you explain the vast shortfall in calories? The food nutrients which the body intakes daily are used up in the metabolism of cells by which cells remain alive and the body maintains temperature. The energy by which a man works comes from a source inside the body. Is it the Self/Soul of a being?
