Fidgeting burns calories for slim
couch potatoes
January 28, 2005
We all know them, those frustratingly lean machines
who eat as much or more fattening stuff than we do,
never deliberately exercise, and yet don't put on the
pounds.
Now, an elaborate new study by researchers at the Mayo
Clinic helps explain how the metabolisms of seemingly
identical couch potatoes with the same lifestyles can
be so different.
Turns out that obese couch potatoes sit still, on average,
150 minutes more each day than lean couch potatoes,
who despite equally sedentary jobs and non-existent
exercise habits, manage to walk, play, fidget and generally
move around enough each day to burn about 350 calories
more than the obese couch denizens do.
The researchers call this phenomenon ``non-exercise
activity thermogenesis'' (NEAT for short).
Dr. James Levine, lead author of the study, said doctors
have never quite understood what patients meant when
they said they have low metabolism.
``Our patients have told us for years that they have
low metabolism, and as caregivers, we have never quite
understood what that means, until today,'' said Dr.
James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Rochester, Minn.,
clinic.
``The answer is that they have low NEAT, which means
they have a biological need to sit more,'' he said.
``A person can expend calories either by going to the
gym, or through everyday activities. . . . The calories
that people burn in their everyday activities are far,
far more important in obesity than we previously imagined.''
Source:http://theedge.bostonherald.com
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