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How much and what type of exercise should you do for health?

 

The most recent recommendations suggest that we should aim to do 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week.

How can I measure the intensity of the exercise?

One method is to use METS (metabolic equivalent) with moderate exercise sitting between 3 and 6 METS. To gauge the MET yourself you can start by looking up your activity in The Compendium of Physical Activities.

Examples

  • Golf (walking) 4.5
  • Drumming 4
  • Walking 2-12 (3 METS is the equivalent of about 100 steps per minute)
150 minutes can be divided into bouts of exercise, for example 30 minutes can be broken down into 3 x 10 minutes. It maybe that even shorter bouts are beneficial however as the evidence stands, 10 minutes is advisable as the shortest time.