NEAT!

Take the stairs, park farther away from the grocery store, adjust your TV volume manually instead of with a remote...we've all heard these tips (and lots of similar ones) when the topics of weight loss and healthy living come up. There seems to be this impression that if you just make these little changes to burn a few extra calories each day, you'll lose weight and get healthy lickety-split. This is one of those "yes, and no" kind of issues. Does burning extra calories contribute to weight loss and health gain? Yes. Does it take a surprisingly small amount of expended calories to create a difference? Sometimes. Is parking farther away from the store going to make you healthy and skinny? Probably not.

Today we're talking about NEAT - that is, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. 

Okay, let's start with some vocabulary. 

Thermogenesis is, simply, the production of heat. Usually when we're talking about thermogenesis, we're talking about the process that produces heat in a human or animal body. Thermogenesis burns calories. 

So, non-exercise activity thermogenesis is just an activity that isn't planned exercise, but burns calories anyway. It's important to burn off extra calories throughout the day so you're keeping your metabolism even, but regular NEAT can also boost your mood, improve your mental clarity, and help you to maintain a positive mental and emotional state. These simple activities can also bring more fun into your life and help you to boost heart and circulatory health. Having trouble sleeping? NEAT requires your body to use more energy throughout the day, increasing the chance that you'll be tired enough for your body to naturally achieve restful sleep when it's bed time 

Today, get more NEAT into your day. Need some ideas? Try:

• Turning on the music! Studies show that our bodies naturally respond to music with more activity in more of the large muscle groups. So turn up your tunes while you're cleaning, cooking, driving, and working!
• Take an extra lap around the store. You know you wanted to look at that thing over in that one section anyway, so head on over there and then take the circuitous route back to the check stand. 
• Stand up and walk around during commercials. Even TV time can turn into NEAT time if you make sure to stand up and move during the commercials. Get some water, check your thermostat, load the dishwasher - anything other than stuffing more calories in! If you're working on getting your whole family healthier, this is a great time to have everyone stand up, stretch, and wiggle together.