NEAT

Fidgeting may keep you thin! About time I learned that all my incessant chair maneuvering is actually doing my body a favor. Dr. Levin at the Mayo Clinic has finished a study on Non Exercise Activity Thermogensis (NEAT). The theory of NEAT, roughly stated, is that naturally lean people move around more on a daily basis then naturally non-lean people, burning an average of 350 calories more per day because of all the additional movement. Dr. Levine thinks the major finding out of his research is that obesity can be reduced just by adding additional activities to people's daily routines - taking stairs instead of sitting, parking further away from stores, and other such minutiae. From the telegraph article:

His new work, published today in the journal Science, shows that by walking or washing the dishes you boost your "non-exercise activity thermogenesis," or NEAT. "Our patients have told us for years that they have low metabolism, and we have never quite understood what that means - until today," says Dr Levine.

"The answer is they have low NEAT, which means they have a biological need to sit more. Our study shows that the calories that people burn in their everyday activities - their NEAT - are far, far more important in obesity than previously imagined."

Obese persons sit, on average, 150 minutes more each day than their naturally lean counterparts, burning 350 fewer calories a day. "Over a year, this alone could result in a weight loss of about 15 kilograms (33lbs), if energy intake remained unchanged."

He added: "The opportunity to increase activity through NEAT by 350 kilocalories per day allows me to believe obesity can be reversed."