March 17, 2009 -- What exactly is moderate exercise? A new studysuggests the much-touted moderate-intensity walk should translate to about 100steps per minute, or 3,000 steps in 30 minutes.
Federal exercise recommendations call for Americans to get at least 150minutes per week of moderate exercise for optimal health. And some studies havesuggested that moderate-intensity exercise -- like walking -- may be just asbeneficial as more vigorous exercise.
“This presents a challenge because health benefits are dependent on theintensity of activity, yet there are few valid and reliable monitoring toolsavailable to the public that are affordable and easy to use,” researchers writein the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
In their study, researchers sought to translate the moderate-exerciserecommendations into easily achievable targets that could be measured using acommon pedometer.
Although pedometers are widely used to measure physical activity by countingthe number of steps a person takes, they can’t measure exercise intensity.
In the lab, exercise intensity is commonly determined by measuring theamount of oxygen taken in by the body during exercise, known as oxygenuptake.
To see how many steps per minute were needed to achieve moderate-intensityexercise, investigators monitored oxygen uptake in 58 women and 39 men whilethey completed four different 6-minute sessions on the treadmill at speedsranging from 2.4 to 4.1 miles per hour. All of the participants also worepedometers during the exercise sessions.
The results showed that for men the number of steps per minute to reachmoderate-intensity exercise was between 92 and 102. For women, the range wasbetween 91 and 115 steps per minute.
"We believe that these data support a general recommendation of walkingat more than 100 steps per minute on level terrain to meet the minimum of themoderate-intensity guideline,” researcher Simon J. Marshall, PhD, of the Schoolof Exercise and Nutritional Sciences at San Diego State University, says in anews release.
“Because health benefits can be achieved with bouts of exercise lasting atleast 10 minutes, a useful starting point is to try and accumulate 1,000 stepsin 10 minutes, before building up to 3,000 steps in 30 minutes,” he says.“Individuals can monitor their progress using a simple pedometer and awristwatch.”
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