NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis)
NEAT is the energy you burn outside of exercise – walking, standing, fidgeting, housework. It can amount to as much as 2,000 kcal a day.
Ausführlich erklärt
NEAT (“non-exercise activity thermogenesis”) is the energy your body uses for all movement that isn't sport: climbing stairs, carrying the shopping, cooking, playing with the kids, pacing up and down on the phone, even fidgeting in your chair.
The term was coined by physician James Levine (Mayo Clinic). His research showed that NEAT can differ by up to 2,000 kilocalories a day between two people of the same weight – depending on whether someone has an office job and drives to work or spends the day on their feet. In a well-known experiment from 1999, volunteers were given 1,000 kilocalories too many every day for eight weeks: those who unconsciously fidgeted and moved around more barely gained weight; those who stayed seated gained considerably.
For your total daily energy expenditure – everything you burn in a day – NEAT is therefore often more important than that one workout: an hour of jogging might burn 500 kilocalories, and an active day on the go can burn just as much – without changing clothes or showering. When you're losing weight, your body tends to quietly turn NEAT down (you sit down more often, walk more slowly); that's one of the reasons why the scales sometimes stall.
How to keep your NEAT high: stand rather than sit wherever you can; move for two minutes every hour; take the stairs instead of the lift; walk or cycle short distances; see housework as movement rather than a chore. A step counter makes the effect visible.
Children naturally have a high NEAT – as long as screens don't put the brakes on it. Shared family movement rituals therefore work twice over: for the parents and as a role model.