Lawyers can drop pounds at work through thermogenesis

Still unconvinced about the benefits of exercise? Weigh in your mind this heavy term: nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). From an item in Bus. Law Today, Vol. 17, Nov./Dec. 2008 at 7, it means calorie consumption from slightly increased activity levels that don’t reach the level of ”exercise.” NEAT “is very possibly a deciding factor between obesity and thinness”. What I think of is the person who takes the steps each time rather than the elevator. The extra calories consumed over time, even with no activity that feels like real exercise, manhandles love handles.

The example given comes from a partner at a firm who “spends about 80 percent of his day taking baby steps on the treadmill, to the tune of six of eight pounds lost in a month (See my post of Feb. 25, 2008: exercise and the brain; April 16, 2007: corporate health centers; Nov. 6, 2007: energy; and May 2, 2008: exercise improves the mind.). An in-house lawyer could keep a small treadmill under the desk chugging away. NEAT idea!