How effective is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis?

It was seven years ago that this writer chanced upon a friend pacing back and forth on the Mumbai Press Club rooftop looking anxiously at his watch every five minutes The obvious we donrsquot approve joke about whether his wife was going to call was cracked and in response he showed the dial of his smartwatch he was trying to complete his daily step countCut to 2023 when the practice of tracking your activity and expended calorie count has evolved into a sciencemdashNonExercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEATActorentrepreneur Gul Panag has been experiencing the benefits of NEAT for around seven years she tells us Panag who turns 45 in January has been a committed fitness enthusiast for the better part of her adult life ldquoThe beauty of itrdquo she says ldquois this once you start your thinking evolves and you plan your entire day around it You must be cognisant of activity but not obsessed with it I am constantly active now I walk my dogs instead of letting my staff do it When I am on the phone and donrsquot want a call drop when I enter the lift I take the stairs to my eighthfloor residence But I do it slowly without breaking into a sweatrdquoDeepa VaswaniShe adds that all the things we can do at home every day like vacuuming the house or cleaning the car contribute towards NEAT If the average Indian homemaker were to track her NEAT she would be crossing 10000 steps every dayldquoI frequently travel to Delhi for work and one of my favourite bits is if I have to board from the last gate itrsquos easily a onekilometre walk When you land in Mumbai it is an almost 800metre walk from the gate to the baggage claim area NEAT makes me consciously track these details I am constantly aware of how active I amrdquoExperts say that NEAT is critical because it contributes equally towards your fitness goals as it does to the daily workout and diet With time those conscious about fitness find their goals changing While running is the exercise of choice for people in their 20s the focus shifts to strength training later because after 35 body muscle mass is on the decline and the risk of injury is high NEAT on the other hand is both accessible and important across age groupsDeepa Vaswani is a Punebased nutritionist and fitness trainer she used to be a banker before this Vaswani says that NEAT is not just about getting your steps in but a holistic combination of diet sleep and activity ldquoFitness is not a one size fits all Training and nutrition work best as a team One cannot do without the other With NEAT You are not actively exercising but by remaining active which means you are still burning caloriesrdquoThis is something that Panag also swears by ldquoExercise can not be a countermeasure for a bad dietrdquo is one of her observations during our callVaswani simplifies the concept by comparing it to Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption or EPOC and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS EPOC is the extra oxygen that your body needs after a rigorous workout while DOMS this writerrsquos constant companion thanks to a fourdaysaweek weight training routine is the muscle pain that kicks in 16 to 24 hours after a workout and typically lasts up to 36 hoursldquoIn all these processesrdquo says Vaswani ldquothe principle is the same Your body is burning calories even though you are not actively exercising With EPOC this happens because your body through its internal organs is working to process the extra oxygen With DOMS the process of muscle recovery ends up burning calories Which means that even though you are done with your workout the process of thermogenesis is ongoing NEAT employs this same principle and the only requirement is that you remain consciously active about itrdquoShe gives us another examplemdashconsuming a high protein high fat diet is also a form of NEAT as the body burns calories while processing and digesting the foods This is why the ailing are usually served a more carbohydratedense meal because you donrsquot want to put their system to work and exhaust it any more than it isVaswani says that Panag a longtime friend is inherently analyticalldquoShe reads a lot and asks questions and she has always been fitnessoriented so if you give her the rationale behind something she takes the time to understand itrdquoAnd to Panag as we sign off from the phone call we have one last question how many steps did she finish during this call She takes a second to check her smartwatch before answering ldquoTwo hundredhellipthatrsquos shameful If I were outdoors instead of at home Irsquod have clocked over one kilometre by nowrdquo10 tips to up your NEAT thinspOptimise form and technique to maximise muscle recruitment Muscle is metabolically active tissue so the more muscle you have the better your metabolism thinspAlternate between cardio respiratory or endurance training and yoga thinspPrioritise protein amp fat to nourish your body thinspTake the stairs instead of the lift if and when you can thinspGet your daily dose of vitamins amp minerals because micros will support macros thinspWalk or cycle to run your errands thinspGet 78 hours of sleep each night because the body has to rest and repair in order to function optimally thinspDrink water basis your thirst The body knows what it needs and when thinspPay attention to the signs your body gives you and know when to take a break thinspTrack your health amp fitness because you manage what you measure Consult a professional to customise a routine that is designed specifically according toyour goals