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Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) and Adiposity

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Sedentary Behaviour Epidemiology

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health ((SSEH))

Abstract

The human being is designed to walk. Over a miniscule, in genetic terms, period of time, a mere 200 years, human have been compressed into chairs. Education, work, and home environments promote sedentariness in susceptible people. In those individuals, non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is suppressed and health is harmed. Overall the strength of the evidence regarding sedentary behaviour and obesity suggests that NEAT has declined with urbanization and modernization—in general, modern people living in cities and working in offices are sedentary. Low NEAT (sedentariness) is associated with lower daily energy expenditure than a person of similar size with high NEAT. A person who does not increase NEAT during a period of overfeeding is likely to gain greater adipose tissue than a high-NEAT responder and so people with obesity are more prone to low NEAT and sedentariness. It is clear that central mechanisms exist to regulate NEAT. Solutions exist to measure NEAT and reverse sedentariness in schools and workplaces. It is recommended that a comprehensive societal approach is necessary to reverse sedentariness in homes, schools, offices, and cities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

    James A. Levine

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Shelly K. McCrady-Spitzer

Authors
  1. James A. Levine
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  2. Shelly K. McCrady-Spitzer
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Correspondence to James A. Levine .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Michael F. Leitzmann

  2. Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Carmen Jochem

  3. Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Daniela Schmid

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Levine, J.A., McCrady-Spitzer, S.K. (2018). Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) and Adiposity. In: Leitzmann, M., Jochem, C., Schmid, D. (eds) Sedentary Behaviour Epidemiology. Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61552-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61552-3_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61552-3

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