Glossary

Active is doing at least the equivalent of 150 minutes to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. This level meets the WHO guidelines for adults.

Health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) is any form of physical activity that benefits health and functional capacity without undue harm or risk.

Highly active is doing the equivalent of more than 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. This level exceeds the WHO guidelines for adults.

Inactive is not getting any moderate- or vigorous intensity physical activity beyond basic movement from daily life activities.

Insufficiently active is doing less than the equivalent of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. This level is less than the WHO guidelines for adults.

Metabolic equivalent of task (MET) is a measure to reflect the intensity of physical activities, and allows comparison between them. One MET is the energy equivalent expended per unit of time by an individual while seated at rest. More intense activities, which cost more energy expenditure than being seated at rest, are attributed higher METs:

Light-intensity physical activity (LPA) is between 1.5 and less than 3 METs. This includes slow walking, bathing, or other incidental activities that do not result in a substantial increase in heart rate or breathing rate.

Moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) is between 3 and less than 6 METs. This includes activities such as gardening, dancing or brisk walking.

Vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) is 6 or more METs. This includes activities such as fast swimming or running.

MET-minutes is a useful tool for tracking physical activity in more detail than by simply using the number of minutes. This is particularly helpful if people do different activities at different levels of intensity over the course of the week. It is calculated by the intensity of activity (in MET) multiplied by the duration of activity (in minutes). For instance, running 10 km per hour (6 minutes per km) is roughly equivalent with a value of 10 METs. If someone ran for 30 minutes at this pace, then they would do 10 x 30 = 300 MET-minutes.

Sedentary behaviour is any behaviour during waking hours characterised by a low level of energy expenditure (i.e. 1.5 METs or lower) while sitting, reclining or lying.

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