A NEAT Way to Achieve Better Health and Live Longer

Like many of us, I have been out of work (mostly) for the past two months. Initially, the weather was uncooperative in getting out much, so I less active. As the weather allowed, the family would go on hikes and walks, which is a great way to spend time together and get in better shape. After all, the science is clear that exercise will increase your health and possibly lengthen your life. 

To that end, we have a fully equipped gym situated in my shed that we call the Hobo Gym, and we have been able to ramp up our daily workouts due to the extra free time. We have slowly stocked up on used and cheap equipment over the last twenty-five years or so. We consider it one of our best investments ever, considering the proven health benefits of resistance training. 

The Hobo Gym

The act of exercise is all about burning energy, which results in a host of health benefits when appropriately dosed. The scientific name of this process is called Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or EAT for short. Even though we have been exercising more lately, the total time we spend doing so represents a small fraction of the day. When we go on a two-hour hike and hit the gym for an hour, we have only spent 12.5% of the day exercising. With a full work schedule looming and everything else that daily life entails, three hours of exercise a day will be pushing it. The reality is that for most people, exercise accounts for an average energy expenditure of only around 100 calories per day, which is not very good. 

Sleeping, showering, eating, and work takes up to seventeen hours of the day. Add three hours of exercise, and you have only four hours to clean, shop, cook, help your children with homework, and mow the lawn. No wonder adherence to exercise programs is abysmal.

It turns out that all of the other stuff we do that is not exercise is called Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or just NEAT. On rainy, lazy, binge-watching days, NEAT can be negligible. Conversely, on sunny days when you lay ten yards of mulch in the garden, NEAT skyrockets. The exhaustion I feel after a vigorous day of gardening is usually way more intense than a day I hiked for two hours and lifted weights for one.

It turns out that all that energy expended walking to work, raising out of a chair, carrying groceries, gardening, dusting, and fidgeting adds up to quite a bit. These activities seem effortless, but we do them for several minutes to hours, which has a remarkable effect on our metabolism. Research has determined that  NEAT could be a critical component in how we either maintain our body weight or develop obesity.  (1) Remember, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, osteoarthritis, and certain types of cancer are all linked to obesity. Obesity is typically connected to excessive caloric intake and lack of physical activity. (2) 

In the not too distant past, humans relied on hunting and gathering to survive, which kept us quite active. In the past, being idle could lead to starvation and death. The concept of exercise would have seemed ludicrous. Would a stone age person stand there and just lift a boulder over and over to achieve batter fitness? I think not. For most of history, readiness for battle was the principal purpose behind physical training. 

Modern-day hunter-gatherers spend less than forty hours per week finding food. Still, the remainder of their time is not spent lying around. When we transitioned to farming, much more physical labor was needed to produce enough food to survive. 200 years ago, 90% of people in America farmed, compared to only 2% today. (3) During the industrial revolution, physical labor for manufacturing was very much the norm. Today, most industries have moved away from our shores, leaving us with mostly sedentary jobs. The advent of TV, Video games, cell phones, and computers, automobiles, elevators, and escalators have all but rendered us non-ambulatory.

Because we don't move very much anymore, the concept of exercise seems much more plausible today. The idea of sitting at a computer desk all day and then spending an hour on a treadmill to make up for all that lack of activity makes total sense. Only, science says it doesn't really. As I already mentioned, exercise accounts for an average energy expenditure of only around 100 calories per day. Not so good. Exercise (EAT) does not counteract the adverse effects of prolonged sitting. This is supported by a Canadian study that showed exercise did not undo the harmful effects of sedentarism. They found a progressively higher risk of all-cause mortality and heart disease mortality with higher levels of sitting time. (4) Additionally, Hagger-Johnson et al. found that subjects who sat more than seven hours per day versus those who sat less than five experienced a 30% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality. (5)

Levine et al. determined that by studying obese versus normal-weight individuals, the NEAT's energy expenditure is much more significant than EAT when measured over the day. 350 calories per day were spent by the lean individuals in the study, all by fidgeting and other low-level activities. (6) To give perspective, 350 calories per day can result in nearly forty pounds of weight loss after one year! For this reason alone, lowgrade daily physical activity should be considered as an alternative to exercise for or obese individuals. (4)

 A 2008 study of over 4000 individuals who exercised more than two and a half hours per week by Healy et al. showed that increased television viewing time led to unhealthy changes. Specifically, larger waist circumference, higher blood pressure, worse blood sugar control, and elevated triglycerides were associated with more TV time. Keep in mind that all of the subjects regularly exercised. (7)There is a saying, "you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet." We now have a new version, " exercise won't make up for being a couch potato." In short, sitting too much is a significant health hazard and should be avoided.

What can we do to stop sitting so much and involuntarily increase our NEAT? Lots of things. I know for sure that limiting TV, cell phone, and computer screen time will mean that you will be doing something more active than sitting. If you must spend screen time, use a treadmill while doing so.

Here is my basement setup. It cost about nothing. I put out a request for an unused treadmill on social media and got several responses immediately. It cost me nothing. I had an old computer lying around that is good enough to stream on. I purchased cheap shelves at Target, and now I can move while watching shows-priceless.

My Treadmill Desk-Ugly But Effective

Dozens of apps can remind you to take a break from your screen and move. They are available for cell phones, Macs, and windows. Click here to check them out. Remember, lowgrade movement adds up. Which reminds me, I need to finish writing this blog and move. Happy Memorial Day!