Structured exercise is what we tend to focus on when it comes to improving metabolism and expending calories, but we cannot ignore the importance of NEAT. Your NEAT activity can have a huge impact on your metabolic health and achieving your ideal body weight.
Let’s put it into perspective…If you exercise for one hour, that only accounts for 4% of your day. If you sleep for 8 hours, the rest of your time awake is an opportunity to increase your NEAT levels. That time makes up 63% of your day. That’s 63% of the time you have an opportunity to get some more movement in your life. This is why NEAT actually accounts for more energy expenditure than exercise! That’s right: your NEAT burns more calories overall than one hour of intense exercise.
Ways to be Neat-er!
- Walk your dog more than one time per day
- Wash your car by hand, instead of taking it through the car wash
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Stand, instead of sitting all day at the desk
- Take a few 15-minute breaks to take a walk
- Pace while talking on the phone
- Do you own yard work
- Ride your bike instead of driving
- Fidgeting
- Parking further away from store entrances
- While sitting at work, repeat sit to stand a few times every hour
How much NEAT?
We can all benefit from more movement in our lives. If you have an active job where you are on your feet all day, your NEAT is already going to be pretty high, but with so many of us working desk jobs, being students, and spending so much time using technology, it can be easy to go the entire day with very little movement. The key is to look at your typical day and add small changes to your daily routine and gradually build on your new habits.
We hope you will improve your metabolic health and incorporate these tips and become Neat-ER!
And remember, when it comes to movement, All movement is good movement.
