Every Little Step Is NEAT

​TROPICAL DEPRESSION BY PATTI LISZKAY
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​EVERY LITTLE STEP IS NEAT

      Doesn't it seem like calories are something we're constantly struggling to avoid as opposed to something we need to live? And considering that calories are, in fact, what keeps us alive but that we're constantly burning them up,  wouldn't it seem intuitive that we'd want to stock up on the most calories that we could, so as to a have a nice, well-padded metabolic bank account to draw from?
         But alas, as we all know, calories are not the same as money - although maybe  they are in that too much of either is not particularly healthy or beneficial, and having just the right amount of both to meet our daily wants and needs is likely best. 
        However, the conventional wisdom seems to be, earn money, burn calories.
      Taking off from that point, do you know what burns up most of the calories that we consume? Not exercise, but NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis:       

     Apparently NEAT is all the movements, big and small, that we make all day long that aren't exercise.  And the more of these movements that we do throughout the day, the more calories we burn.  Some common examples of NEAT are cooking, 

..housework,

...shopping,

...playing an instrument,

...playing with the dog,

...going up and down steps, getting from point A to point B, even fidgeting while sitting counts. 

​   One hour of exercise purportedly takes up 4% of our waking day, while non-exercise takes up a whopping 63% (assuming we're sleeping for eight hours. Which I, for one, just about never am, not because I wouldn't like eight hours of sleep a night, but because that much sleep will not come to me no matter how many hours I lie in bed).
​      Anyway, what got me cogitating about this subject was this article I read in the New York Times last week about the potential health drawbacks of working from home.

       Among the drawbacks were the likelihood of less walking, as from the one's car to the building of one's employment, less getting up from one's desk to consult with one's co-workers, less hanging around the water cooler chatting, etc. In short, less NEAT. It was also an exhortation to those working from home to get their NEAT on.
        Which I, frankly, have been doing.  Ever since I read that article I've been trying to have more of an awareness of all the moves I make during the day while making the effort to make enough of them.
       However I do feel confident that I at least have the fidgeting all sewn up. All my life people have been saying to me, "Geez, can't you sit still for a minute?" Now I finally have a righteous answer: No, I shall NOT sit still. I'm busy NEATing.

  

https://www.verywellfit.com/neat-non-exercise-activity-thermogenesis-2241984

​https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/opinion/wfh-return-to-office-health.html