13 everyday activities that sneak more exercise into your day

Struggling to make time for gym? You may be burning more energy than you realise by simply ‘being’ – and tweaking how you do what you already do could have significant healthy knock-on effects.

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (or NEAT) is a fancy way of describing the energy you burn to do everything during the day that is not sleeping, eating or purposeful exercise, like organised sports or running. It's also known as incidental exercise.

NEAT happens when you’re walking around the office, gardening, cleaning the house or even fidgeting (a lot). This activity really adds up – and can have a profound impact on weight loss, too, because how you move throughout the day contributes to a lot more energy use than a single exercise session.

Moving signals your mitochondria to produce more energy: not just during ‘planned’ exercise, but all day long. The kicker? A Harvard study has shown that even just thinking of (and consequently treating) NEAT activities such as housework or gardening as actual exercise could help you burn more energy and get healthier to boot.

You don’t even have to do these everyday activities for long, either. Just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity during daily tasks that makes you huff and puff could reduce the risk of some cancers by up to 32%, reports The University of Sydney.

The study used data from wearable devices to track the daily activity of over 22,000 ‘non-exercisers’. Researchers then followed the group's health records for nearly seven years to monitor for cancer.

These short bursts of activity are “a bit like applying the principles of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to your everyday life,” said lead author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis.

“It’s quite remarkable to see that upping the intensity of daily tasks for as little as four to five minutes a day, done in short bursts of around one minute each, is linked to an overall reduction in cancer risk by up to 18%, and up to 32% for cancer types linked to physical activity,” he says.

The study was observational, meaning it isn’t designed to directly explore cause and effect. More research is needed. But Professor Stamatakis says that the link between vigorous incidental exercise and lower cancer risk is promising recommendation for people “who find structured exercise difficult or unappealing."

Increase your daily activity by:

cleaning more vigorously
stretching higher or squatting lower while gardening
doing walking phone calls
dancing while cooking
Bring your grocery bags in one by one (more steps!) doing arm curls while you’re at it
fidget more while at your desk – think chair swivels, torso twists, arm stretches

Feel the burn

Here are some of the most common ways you can get exercise with everyday activities.

House cleaning: Sure, it may be boring but at least you can get some extra exercise in. Half an hour of cleaning burns 444kJ (106 cal). Vacuuming burns 293kJ (70 cal, level up by adding alternating lunges), while doing and folding the laundry blitzes another 293kJ (70 cal). Bonus points for a squat after hanging each item of washing.
Gardening: Half an hour burns 736kJ (176 cal). Mowing the lawn? 590kJ (141 cal) for 30 minutes.
Cooking: 30 minutes burns 293kJ (70 cal).
Shopping: Three hours of walking around at a leisurely pace burns around 2,092kJ (500 cal).
Trolley pushing: 30 minutes of wandering up and down the aisles of your grocery store burns around 444kJ (106 cal), with the number increasing as the trolley gets heavier.
Moving furniture: around 1,423kJ (340 cal) an hour. Remember to lift with your legs, not your back.
Dog walking: 30 minutes burns 418kJ (100 cal). An hour’s play with an active dog or playful cat can burn up to 1,138kJ (272 cal).
Fidgeting: One study suggested that fidgeters can burn up to 1,464 more kilojoules (350 cal) per day.
Laughing: 15 minutes of laughter can burn up to 167kJ (40 cal) a day. Adding more laughter is a great way to improve your overall health and happiness.
Sex: 30 minutes burns between 334 to 418kJ (80 to 100 cal). It’s fun, too.
Hugging: one hour can burn 293kJ (70 cal).
Making music: Playing guitar while standing: 837kJ (200 cal) an hour. The violin? 732kJ (175 cal). But master the drums or trombone to burn a whopping 1,171kJ (280 cal) an hour.
Sing: Warbling away while you go about your day can burn up to 628kJ (150 cal) an hour. Add some hip wiggling to the mix and you’re all set.

So even if you can’t get out to the gym or park, boosting your everyday activities can give you a basic daily workout. And given that just 10 minutes of exercise a day can help you live longer, it’s worth rethinking how you do the laundry.