MM#251--How Neat is N.E.A.T.?

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, i am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Now, over the weekend we launched the Mojo Academy 2.0. It's an upgrade to our original Mojo Academy, so please check out our breakdown about that launch. We'll have some links in the show notes. We've got some very cool stuff we're rolling out over this month And we are doing our best to upgrade your toolkit so you can flourish at the very highest level. Now, also over the weekend we covered, we just released book number 26 for the Mojo Academy And that title was Sitting Kills and Moving Heels by Dr Joan Veracos, and that library continues to grow at the Academy. We'll keep releasing two books every month And now we have the upgrade, so you get the written review along with the audio review. So very good stuff there. But over the past decade there has been a growing realization that our sedentary lifestyles are contributing to our poor health, our obesity and our diabetes. Now we spend most of our days sitting in chairs, at desks, in cars, with little to no movement in between. In fact, i'm driving on average two to three hours a day one way for my job, covering five states for my primary job. So that is in fact, a lot of sitting. But did you know that there's a simple and effective way to combat this and maintain good health throughout your life? And we actually discovered it in the book we released over the weekend Sitting Kills and Moving Heels. So let's go to a poll quote from this book, because I thought it was fascinating. About nine years ago, james Levine, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, minnesota, coined the term non-exercise activity thermogenesis. The acronym is NEAT. This concept of NEAT sounds much like what I have been discovering in my space and gravity-related research. Neat is a much greater component of your body's total energy expenditure throughout a typical day than our structured, high-intensity exercises such as walking, running, bicycling and working out at the gym. Neat is defined as the small, brief yet frequent muscular movements one makes throughout the day, of which changing positions is the most effective Standing, sitting, laying down, bending over to pick something up, squatting, stretching upward to take something off a shelf, getting dressed and undressed, playing a musical instrument or stirring a pot. Even movements as small as crossing and uncrossing one's legs, waving one's hands while talking or fidgeting, or helpful. It is these types of small movements and activities that do not happen enough when a person is habitually inactive. Whenever we move around, calories we have consumed are converted in energy by contracting muscles and are measured as generated heat thermogenesis the T in the NEAT acronym. Because people who move around a lot all day, even if they don't go to the gym or engage in intense exercise, burn up many more calories than people who are sedentary. They even expend more calories than those who do go to the gym but then spend the rest of the day sitting around. Not surprisingly, the research on NEAT has shown a connection between the lack of NEAT and obesity and metabolic diseases like diabetes. Okay, so how NEAT is NEAT? Yes, i know that was totally cheesy, but I had to say it. While Dr Joan Veracos is quote on NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis is a great starting point to understand how small, brief yet frequent movements can help to improve our health. Here is much more to consider. For instance, not only does NEAT help burn calories and expend energy throughout the day, but it is also shown to have a positive impact on cognitive performance. According to research at the University of Illinois, frequent movement can lead to improved focus, better memory recall and faster reaction times. Additionally, engaging in regular physical activity helps to reduce stress, improve mood and increase creativity. We know that. So, getting back to this NEAT thing, what exactly is it again? Well, it refers, like we talked about in the quote, to the small, brief yet frequent muscular movements we make throughout the day that burn calories and maintain our overall health. These movements include standing, sitting down, laying down, bending, squatting, stretching, playing musical instruments and even fidgeting. Dr Varikos' book presents a simple yet effective plan for maintaining good health throughout our life by developing these new lifestyle habits in the frequent, gravity challenged movement that we have all day, every day, because we are on earth and not in space. And that's where Dr Joan got her, that's where she cut her teeth, that's where she figured out all this stuff. She was helping astronauts when they came back from space. They'd be greatly diminished in their health and she would help to get them back up and moving around and rehabilitating them. So in today's mojo minute, the importance of non-exercise activity, thermogenesis or NEAT, and maintaining good health can, in fact, be pretty NEAT. Moving these yet effective habits into your daily routine can and will make a difference in your health and well-being. So let's start moving today and challenging that force of gravity that's always upon us because, as Dr Joan reminds us, sitting may kill us, but moving can heal us.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.