There's a way to get healthier without even going to gym. It's called NEAT
If anyone asked if I get enough exercise, my answer would be unequivocal: Yes, I make a point of carving out time to sweat, get my heart pumping and move around.
I probably would not mention that I prefer to drive the half mile to pick up my coffee instead of taking a 15-minute walk. Or that using the drive thru sounds infinitely more appealing than actually getting out of my car. Or that you'd rarely spot me choosing to trudge up the stairs at the end of the day.
None of these shortcuts on their own feel like that a big deal. After all, I worked out today, right? But added up these are slowly sapping a sometimes overlooked source of metabolic health.
It's a concept that goes by the name non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, for short.
This is essentially all the calories that a person burns through their daily activity excluding purposeful physical exercise. Think of the low-effort movements that you string together over the course of your day – things like household chores, strolling through the grocery aisle, climbing the stairs, bobbing your leg up and down at your desk, or cooking dinner.
"The fact there's so many things in part explains why it's so difficult to, an endocrinologist who pioneered research on NEAT while at the Mayo Clinic and now heads the nonprofit Foundation Ipsen.
