You are probably already wondering what on earth I am talking about? Yes, it is health related and a way you can burn extra calories without planned exercise… sounds good right? I am talking about NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) and it doesn’t have to be conducted in a tidy manner. In fact you can implement NEAT anywhere.
So, what is NEAT?
NEAT makes up at least 15% of your daily calorie expenditure and includes all movement and exercise that doesn’t include structured or planned activities. The great thing is, we can easily incorporate more NEAT and enhance the calorie expenditure with just a few lifestyle changes. Examples of NEAT include walking to locations, doing household chores, feeding animals, cleaning up after others… All the movements we do in our daily lives.
How to enhance it?
Because we do these activities anyway, we can enhance the intensity to add more energy expenditure. There are so many ways we can incorporate more instances of NEAT into our lives. Here are a few examples:
- Park the car further way
- Take the stairs
- Walk more quickly to your destination
- Take the longer route, even if it is just to the clothes line
- Walk while on the phone rather than sitting
- Do calf raises or bench push ups while waiting for the kettle to boil
- Rather than bending down to pick something up, squat down if possible
- Dance when you hear a song you like
- Play with kids in the park or walk around while they play
- Have a walking coffee date, stroll and talk
As you can see there are so many ways to increase more activity into your life. NEAT can be especially beneficial at this time of year in particular. With the holiday season fast approaching and more food often provided with less time to exercise, NEAT can be a great option. And tidiness is the least of your worries… just move in any manner, your body will love it.
You can also learn more tips to assist with over health and wellbeing in my FREE E Book
