Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, is the energy expended for physical activities that are not sleeping, eating, or deliberate sports-like exercise. It includes the energy cost of standing, walking for daily tasks, household work, occupational activity, fidgeting, maintaining posture, and many other small movements performed throughout the day .¹

NEAT can vary greatly between people and within the same person from day to day. Differences in occupation, built environment, habits, spontaneous movement, and responses to changes in energy intake can all affect it. Because many NEAT activities are individually small but occur repeatedly, their accumulated contribution to daily energy expenditure can be substantial .¹

NEAT should be distinguished from exercise activity thermogenesis. A planned run, gym session, or structured cycling workout is generally counted as exercise rather than NEAT, even though both contribute to total energy expenditure. NEAT is also not the same as basal metabolic rate, which is the energy required to maintain essential physiological functions at rest. The term is useful for describing the often overlooked movement-related energy expenditure that occurs outside formal exercise .¹