The coming of the new year inevitably leads to resolutions— countless people promise themselves they will get healthier.
Often times, expectations become unrealistic and we fall short. Committing to two workouts a day and a total diet overhaul all at once can be daunting.
While some folks do thrive on extreme changes, many don’t and fall short before they get out of the gate.
More and more, research shows that even the smallest life changes can lead to incredible results.
People are changing their lives with baby steps.
In the fall of 2023, National Public Radio (NPR) inspired tens of thousands of listeners to get off their screens and move their bodies.
Their Body Electric podcast led to more than 20,000 people joining with Columbia University Medical Center.
Participants were asked to take regular gentle movement breaks throughout the day.
Person after person reported exponential health by inserting just a few minutes of light movement into their day.
Last year, one participant was diagnosed with atherosclerosis after a sudden stroke at just 43 years of age.
She said it was a shocking wake-up call. Her doctor told her she needed to make some major changes to her diet and exercise routine, including a daily walk.
She started taking her dog for a long morning walk, but after several months, her blood sugar and blood pressure numbers weren’t where she wanted them to be—and she still felt off.
That’s when she heard about Columbia’s recommendation for five minutes of movement every 30 minutes.
She began taking gentle movement breaks every half-hour, using a timer and the treadmill that had been collecting dust in the corner of her office.
She quickly found that she felt so much better—she was happier, more energized, and her brain felt less cloudy.
After two weeks, her blood pressure was down 40 points since before starting the study, and her cholesterol was better than the normal range.
In the end, she has kept up the routine and continued to see improvements in her blood pressure and cholesterol levels. She says lifestyle shift has been a game-changer for her health.
Dr. James Levine iterates this same notion in his seminal book “Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It.”
First published in 2014, the work gives us similar small changes that can have a huge effect on our health.
Levine is a professor, the co-director of the Mayo Clinic’s Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk.
He says we often think about needing to exercise more. He agrees that regular workouts can certainly help, and asks us to think about the 23 hours a day were are not at the gym.
According to Levine, walking to the mailbox to fidgeting at your desk can be just as important in winning the battle of the bulge.
He writes about “non-exercise activity thermogenesis,” or “NEAT” and gives tips on how to easily incorporate more NEAT into your day.
Such activities can include:
• walking to lunch
• pacing while on the phone
• cleaning the house
• cooking
• climbing stairs
• standing while you talk to a friend
• folding laundry
According to Dr. Levine, “NEAT” includes all those activities that render us vibrant, unique and independent beings such as dancing, going to work or school, shoveling snow, playing the guitar, swimming or walking in the modern Mall.”
Dr. Levine’s work has shown that NEAT burns an average of 330 calories per day in healthy individuals (and up to nearly 700 calories/day in some people).
Levine has also made convincing arguments that NEAT could burn up to 1000 calories per day when properly incorporated throughout the workday.
So, how can you reduce your time spent being sedentary and increase your NEAT levels? It’s not as hard as you may think.
Little changes can add up.
Regular calorie burn from un-NEAT daily activities are as follows:
• Taking the elevator to your floor burns 15 calories.
• Making phone calls for an hour at your desk burns 15 calories.
• A seated 45-minute lunch burns 15 calories.
• Taking the elevator to the ground floor burns 15 calories.
• Walking to your car and driving home burns 25 calories.
So, all together, these normal daily activities burn about 85 calories.
According to Levine, small adjustments to your routine can make a big difference in calorie burn:
• Parking five blocks from the office and taking the stairs to your floor can burn 80-120 calories.
• Taking phone calls while standing up and pacing coupled with putting a notepad on bookcase or filing cabinet to take notes without bending down can burn 100-130 calories.
• Walking 30 minutes at lunch then sitting to eat for 15 minutes can burn 100-130 calories.
• A one-hour walking meeting can burn 150-200 calories.
• Taking the stairs out of the building and walking back to your car can burn 80-100 calories.
So, these small changes, compounded, can equate to a total 510-680 calories burned each day as opposed to 85.
I am, by no means, a health expert. But I, too, have struggled to stay as active as I should.
These suggestions came across my radar this week and it all seems doable.
So, let’s do it together. I challenge you to take gentle movement breaks each day and look for ways to increase your NEAT. I’ll do the same and let’s see how it goes.
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
You must start somewhere. Why not now?
