Have you ever heard of Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, also known as NEATs for short? It is not an easy one to remember, but for January when you are thinking about New Year resolutions and positive changes to your lifestyle, we thought it was relevant to bring up.
A lot of the time, most people focus on what exercise and physical activity they need to introduce to their day to improve their health and fitness, but there is actually a lot of choirs or daily tasks you do which can improve your energy expenditure, aiding your health without you even knowing.
So, this month, we want you to think about non-exercise. What counts towards your health goals but isn’t actually classified as exercise or fitness in a traditional way. We know physical activity has many benefits to your health, but did you know NEATs can help with weight loss, your breathing, blood circulation, muscular strength… I will remind you of this list later.
NEAT relates to the energy you need to complete tasks outside of sleeping, eating, and exercising. Without going too far into the theory of metabolic rates, it is the cumulative impact of all the different activities and simple movements you do daily, have on you and your health.
Did you know you can burn energy reading, whilst sitting!
No, we aren’t promoting sitting more, we are actually getting you to think about what simple movements you do away from your traditional exercise sessions. Could this be increased? Focusing on these areas, can help you take care of you, daily! Can you introduce more natural movement to your day?
Examples include;
- Washing the dishes, instead of using the dishwasher.
- Could you stand whilst completing tasks, rather than doing them seated? Like speaking on the phone.
- Walk the long way around the office.
- Only fill your glass up half the way so you have to walk to the tap more often.
- Fidget!
If you have no extra time for exercise, can you focus on small changes to increase your NEAT expenditure? Light activity burns more energy than nothing at all. Make good use of the time you ‘waste’ each day, watching the news when you really didn’t want to hear the doom and gloom, when you were scrolling online, when you sat down in front of the TV flicking.
If you are sedentary with low NEAT levels, it results in poorer long-term health regardless of your weight, than someone with high NEAT levels but doesn’t exercise. If someone is overweight but moves a lot, they have better expenditure than a slim person with low NEAT levels but exercises in the gym twice a week. The slim person is more at risk of long-term health issues and disease.
So, let’s focus on the reasons why we should do the washing, when we would rather that extra tea on the sofa.
It requires no skill and is free. It is an easy alternative to return to movement from an injury, rather than an exercise session, as it is low impact. It compliments your walking. You can control blood sugar levels, maintain muscular health, maintain your mental health, and reduce stress. NEAT expenditure lowers inflammation, improves your cardiovascular health, reduces the risk of disease, I can keep going…
Why not try our January challenge this year, to pick up your NEAT levels.
Should you have any good ideas of activities that are classified as NEAT, let us know! Read the monthly bulletin to see how you can achieve more this January!
Katie Horsley-Page