Wanna hear something NEAT?
NEAT stands for “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” and is the energy your body uses for everything besides sleeping, eating and structured exercise. To understand why having a high NEAT is important, we should look at some other terms that relate to one another.
Research suggests that increasing NEAT reduces the occurrence of metabolic syndrome and reduces the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease as well as improving insulin sensitivity in subjects with type 2 diabetes. NEAT is considered an important tool in weight management as well. Living in an age where a sedentary lifestyle is very common, everyone can benefit from improving their NEAT levels.
Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE; the total amount of energy you burn in one day) has three main parts:
Basal metabolic rate (BMR; the amount of energy your body uses to support organ function and physiological systems)
Thermatic Effect of Food (TEF; the energy your body uses to change food into energy or store it for later use) and
Thermic effect of physical activity (TEPA; your energy the body uses to perform all physical activity including planned exercise and NEAT)
BMR accounts for about 60% of TDEE, TEF accounts for about 10% and the remaining ~30% comes from TEPA.
Out of the above three, the one we can control most effectively is our TEPA by increasing our physical activity. This can be done by adding in structured exercise (i.e. lifting weights, running, cycling, dance class, etc.) and moving more throughout your day.
In 2015-2016, the National Center for Health Statistics released the most recent data on obesity in the USA. That data showed that almost 40% of adults in the United States were categorized as obese. That’s 93.3 million adults. Common obesity-related diseases tend to be chronic and include type 2 diabetes mellitus, peripheral artery and cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension, and a variety of cancers. Out of the top 10 leading causes of death and disability in the United States, 7 spots are held by chronic diseases that are classified as obesity-related.
In addition to the high percentage of obese adults in the US, approximately 25% of adults are sedentary and more than 60% do not engage in the recommended amount of activity (150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week) according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obese individuals who do not participate in structured exercise activities have their TEPA made up almost entirely of NEAT. Increasing NEAT for these individuals plays an important role in improving health.
How to increase neat
Add a walk to your day (take your kids, take your pet, take your friend)
Perform household chores (take out the trash, vacuum or sweep, wash the dishes)
Get some yard work done (cut the grass, rake leaves, shovel snow)
Get more steps in (park farther away from store entrances, take the stairs not the elevator)
Stand more (get up and move every hour for 3-5 minutes, switch to a standing desk at work)
consider how you can incorporate more movement into your day. then make a plan, put that plan into action, reflect and repeat.
If you’re still interested in the ‘how’ behind this idea, let’s look at some math.
One pound of body fat is approximately 3,500 calories. That means you need to burn 3,500 calories/week to lose one pound of fat. A lot of times people try to lose weight by restricting the amount of calories consumed. Eating in a deficit is definitely beneficial for losing weight! However, if you can monitor your calorie intake AND increase your daily activity, imagine how much faster those 3,500 calories/week are burned up.
For example, if calorie intake is decreased by 300 calories/day and NEAT is increased by 200 calories/day, then in one week there will be a deficit of 3,500/calories!
Overall, a healthy lifestyle consists of moving your body and fueling your body.
If you want to start making changes toward a healthier life,
A great first step is to incorporate more purposeful movement into your day.
Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you’re leaving this post having learned something new and understand how it can be beneficial to you on your unique fitness journey. If there’s a topic you’re interested in learning more about, please leave me a message here so I can add it to my list!
CITATIONS
Levine, James A. “Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT).” Best Practice & Research. Clinical
Endocrinology & Metabolism, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2002, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415.
Villablanca, Pedro A, et al. “Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Obesity Management.” 2015 Mayo
Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Mayo Clinic, Apr. 2015, www.abom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Nonexercise-Activity-Thermogenesis.pdf.
Vogel, Amanda. “Certified™: April 2018 - Exercise Recovery on the Rise: Is It Part of Your Programming? .”
ACE, American Council on Exercise, Apr. 2018, www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/certified/april-2018/6967/exercise-recovery-on-the-rise-is-it-part-of-your-programming.