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Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
Physical activity recommendations: an alternative approach using energy expenditure.
Lanay M Mudd1, Ann P Rafferty, Mathew J Reeves
1Departments of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. muddlana@msu.edu
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|September 19, 2008
Summary
Most adults don't meet physical activity guidelines. Assessing leisure-time energy expenditure, rather than just activity frequency and duration, significantly increases the number of adults considered compliant with recommendations.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Exercise Science
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Most adults fail to meet established physical activity recommendations.
- Conventional assessment relies on self-reported activity frequency and duration.
- Leisure-time energy expenditure offers an alternative compliance metric.
Purpose of the Study:
- To calculate leisure-time energy expenditure for adults meeting physical activity recommendations.
- To re-evaluate compliance with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation using energy expenditure criteria.
Main Methods:
- Utilized national cross-sectional data from the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
- Categorized adults into Non-, Low-, ACSM/CDC-, and IOM-Active groups based on reported activity.
- Calculated leisure-time energy expenditure and defined the IOM threshold at 21 kcal x kg(-1) x wk(-1).
Main Results:
- Only 4.5% of 162,669 adults met the IOM recommendation by conventional measures.
- Median energy expenditure varied significantly across activity groups.
- Compliance with the IOM recommendation increased to 27.7% when using energy expenditure criteria.
Conclusions:
- Assessing physical activity by energy expenditure substantially increases IOM recommendation compliance.
- Conventional assessment methods may be biased, underestimating true compliance.
- Many adults may meet the spirit of physical activity guidelines without strictly adhering to conventional metrics.
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