Everyday Activities to Increase NEAT Effectively

It’s likely at some point I’ve advised you to ‘move more on a daily basis’. In this post, I want to talk about some actionable ways to increase your NEAT, and talk about how moving more is going to benefit you – be it for health, recovery, or fat loss purposes.



What is NEAT?

NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It’s every bit of movement you do that isn’t a structured workout. Here are some examples of NEAT:

• Housework
• Gardening
• Walking (to the shops, to work, nature walks, walking upstairs, walking the dog, etc.)
• DIY
• Playing with your children, grandchildren, or pets
• Washing the car
• Food shopping
• Fidgeting
• Dancing eg. at a party! Yes, partying counts as NEAT !!!! 

The benefits of NEAT:

• Helps with muscle recovery. Feeling sore after your workout? NEAT – ie. some light movement – will massively help, because of the increased blood flow to your muscles.
• Can help to relieve stress and improve mental health. Nobody feels good after sitting down for 7 hours, but how good do you feel after a short walk, or a break where you get up and do something?
• Helps prevent decline in cardiovascular health. There is a reason they say ‘Sitting is the new smoking’! We aren’t simply ‘getting our steps in’ for the hell of it; daily movement is essential in lowering our risk of chronic disease.
• Helps control blood sugar
• Lowers the level of inflammation in the body
• An easier alternative if you’re coming back from injury
• It’s a low-impact form of movement (ie. easy on the joints)
• No skill needed
• Free!
• Good for beginners
• Won’t interfere with other training or exercise you might be doing
• Helps with fat loss goals. Did you know that only 5% of our total daily energy expenditure comes from workouts, while that coming from NEAT makes up a whopping 15%? Conclusion: it’s worth increasing your NEAT if fat loss is a goal of yours.

Actionable ways to INCREASE your NEAT:

So now you understand the importance of NEAT, here are some realistic, actionable ways you can increase yours:

• Park at the far end of the car park, so you have further to walk
• Where possible, walk to work/town instead of driving or taking public transport (alternatively, park further away/get off the bus a few stops earlier)
• Schedule in a 15 minute walk around your neighbourhood every day. You could even habit-stack this with something you already do (eg. eating lunch, taking out the trash, drinking your morning coffee, etc.), to help you remember
• Get a standing desk for work, to stop you from sitting down all day (you will naturally move more when standing)
• If you can’t get a standing desk, set a timer to get up and walk around your office/house every 30 minutes whilst at work
• Use the loo that’s the furthest away
• When doing food shopping, carry the basket instead of pushing the trolley (not possible for big food shops, I know, but reasonable if you’re only getting a few items)
• Take the stairs instead of getting the lift
• Dance. Dance at your desk, dance whilst cooking, dance whilst brushing your teeth. Bonus benefit: You will feel overjoyed!!!!
• If you have a Smartwatch or an app that tracks your steps, check your daily average, then add 1000 steps onto that as your new goal. Aim for that every day from now on. Once that becomes easy, add another 1000, and so on.

If you work from home, use these tips:

• Schedule in a 15 minute walk around your neighbourhood every day. You could even habit-stack this with something you already do (eg. eating lunch, taking out the trash, drinking your morning coffee, etc.).
• Dance. Dance at your desk, dance whilst cooking, dance whilst brushing your teeth.
• If you have more than one at home: Use the toilet that’s the furthest away from your desk.
• Get a standing desk, to stop you from sitting down all day (you will naturally move more when standing).
• If you can’t get a standing desk, set a timer to get up and walk around your house every 30 minutes whilst at work. Yes, even if you walk in circles around your tiny studio flat. It counts.

So whether you want faster recovery, fat loss, or you simply want to maintain good physical & mental health now and in the future, NEAT is the key.  Your workouts only make up a tiny fraction of your week, so if you’re sedentary outside your 1-2 hours at the gym, you’ll find it very difficult to make progress with your goals, and you probably won’t feel very good. I know it might seem tedious to action these things, but there’s no way around it; you just have to do it. The tedious things actually work the best! 

Conni