Daily Activity Beyond Exercise
Understanding non-exercise activity thermogenesis and its metabolic significance
What is NEAT?
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended during all physical activity that falls outside structured exercise—occupational tasks, household chores, fidgeting, postural maintenance, spontaneous movement, and general daily living. NEAT encompasses everything from walking to the shops to standing while working to the small movements made while sitting.
For many people, NEAT represents a substantially larger proportion of total daily energy expenditure than formal exercise sessions. Yet NEAT is often overlooked in discussions of activity and metabolism, with focus disproportionately placed on structured workouts.
NEAT as a Significant Component of Energy Expenditure
Total daily energy expenditure consists of three primary components: basal metabolic rate (the energy required for basic cellular function at rest), the thermic effect of food (energy required to digest, absorb, and process nutrients), and activity thermogenesis (energy expended during physical movement).
Activity thermogenesis itself has two subcategories: exercise activity thermogenesis (energy expended during structured exercise) and NEAT. For sedentary individuals, NEAT often accounts for 15–30% of total daily expenditure. For active individuals with occupational movement, NEAT can exceed 50%. This is substantial.
Categories of NEAT
Occupational NEAT: Energy expended through work-related activities. Someone with a physically demanding job (construction, nursing, retail) expends far more energy through NEAT than someone in a sedentary office role.
Postural and Spontaneous Movement: Maintaining upright posture, fidgeting, adjusting position, and spontaneous small movements all expend energy. Research shows that people vary substantially in their baseline fidgeting and movement patterns—a factor partially influenced by genetics but also by habit and environment.
Household and Daily Tasks: Cleaning, cooking, gardening, shopping, and other domestic activities all contribute to NEAT. These activities are often underestimated in terms of energy expenditure.
Incidental Movement: Taking stairs instead of lifts, walking instead of driving, standing during phone calls—small choices that accumulate into meaningful energy expenditure differences.
NEAT and Environmental Factors
NEAT is heavily influenced by environment and occupation. The shift toward sedentary work and transportation in many developed countries has dramatically reduced average NEAT compared to historical norms or current patterns in more physically demanding occupations and environments. This reduction in NEAT is thought to contribute significantly to shifts in population body composition.
Conversely, individuals in roles requiring substantial standing, walking, or manual labour naturally expend more energy without formal exercise. Similarly, environmental design—walkable neighbourhoods versus car-dependent sprawl—influences incidental movement and NEAT.
NEAT and Exercise: Not Interchangeable
While NEAT and structured exercise both contribute to total energy expenditure, they have distinct characteristics and benefits. Structured exercise allows for targeted intensity, progressive overload, and specific fitness adaptations. NEAT, while potentially substantial in volume, typically occurs at lower intensity and provides different physiological stimuli.
Optimal physical health likely benefits from both: regular structured activity for fitness and metabolic adaptation, combined with high baseline NEAT from active living and occupational movement. Relying on exercise while maintaining sedentary daily patterns may leave overall activity insufficient.
Practical Implications
Increasing NEAT doesn't require formal fitness pursuits. Practical strategies include walking more, choosing stairs, standing while working when feasible, incorporating movement into household tasks, and designing daily routines to include more incidental activity. These choices, accumulated across days and weeks, represent meaningful energy expenditure and movement contribution to health.