If you have heart, metabolic, or kidney disease or are over 45 years old and have 2 or more risk factors (immediate family member with heart disease before age 55, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, or obesity), you should consult your physician before starting any type of exercise.
The US DHHS suggests:
If that’s more than you can do right now, do what you can. Even 5 minutes of physical activity has real health benefits.
Researchers tracked 650,000 people for 10 years. They had them report leisure time physical activity minutes. There was a substantial benefit - lower hazard ratio of all-cause mortality (lower risk for death) with increasing amounts of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
At the lower end of the MVPA totals, there was a large reduction in mortality risk with small increases in MVPA
Those who were at 150-300 minutes per week of MVPA had a 40% lower risk of death compared to those who were physically inactive.
Here’s another view of greater life expectancy with greater activity levels.
Slightly more than 20% of men meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. About 15% of women do.
We tend to overestimate our activity! Many studies show this. In one study, 62% of adults thought they met the guidelines…only 9.6% actually did when comparing data from accelerometers (activity monitors) to what they reported.
1 Metabolic Equivalent (1 MET) is the rate you burn energy (calories) at rest (sitting still). The number of METS you are at (the rate of calories you burn) increase with increased intensity of physical activity. This means you burn more calories with higher intensity.
Some activities are more likely to be high or moderate intensity. Here are examples.
The talk test is a simple method for measuring your exercise intensity.
You can use rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to estimate your exercise intensity.
| RPE | Intensity Level | How it Feels |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Very Light | Anything other than complete rest. |
| 2 - 3 | Light | Feels like you can maintain for hours; easy to breathe and carry on a conversation. |
| 4 - 6 | Moderate | Feel like you can exercise for long periods of time; able to talk and hold short conversations. |
| 7 - 8 | Vigorous | On the verge of becoming uncomfortable; short of breath; can speak a sentence. |
| 9 | Why Exercise Intensity MattersIn addition to the amount of exercise (such as number of steps or minutes), intensity of exercise matters, too. One study among 6213 men, with an average of 6.2 years follow-up, found a lower risk of death with increasing fitness level. Peak exercise intensity was the single greatest predictor of survival For each additional MET of fitness (maximal exercise intensity), there was a 12% higher rate of survival. Here’s what a 1 MET increase looks like. In another study, moderate-to- vigorous exercise lowered risk of diabetes. This was among 6,000 people. An extra 20-min brisk walk a day was associated with 11% lower odds of type 2 diabetes. In other words, accumulating the same volume through higher intensity activity was associated with lower odds of T2D than accumulating through lower intensity activity How to Increase Intensity** Only if your provider agrees that it is safe to do so Ways to Increase Intensity
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to Increase Exercise Intensity
Lark Is There for You!If you have a Fitbit tracker, sync it with your Lark app. Give the Lark app permission to access your Google Fit or Apple Healthkit if you use other devices (like an Apple watch). Respond to the weekly questions from the Lark Coach about moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise minutes. Enter your workouts manually in the app Ask support.lark.com if you have questions! ReferencesU.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition Moore SC, Patel AV, Matthews CE, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Park Y, Katki HA, Linet MS, Weiderpass E, Visvanathan K, Helzlsouer KJ, Thun M, Gapstur SM, Hartge P, Lee IM. Leisure time physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity and mortality: a large pooled cohort analysis. PLoS Med. 2012;9(11):e1001335. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001335. Epub 2012 Nov 6. PMID: 23139642; PMCID: PMC3491006. Quinlan C, Rattray B, Pryor D, Northey JM, Anstey KJ, Butterworth P, Cherbuin N. The accuracy of self-reported physical activity questionnaires varies with sex and body mass index. PLoS One. 2021 Aug 11;16(8):e0256008. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256008. PMID: 34379676; PMCID: PMC8357091. Source: American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Testing and Prescription Jonathan Myers, Ph.D., Manish Prakash, M.D., Victor Froelicher, M.D., Dat Do, M.D., Sara Partington, B.Sc., and J. Edwin Atwood, M.D. Exercise Capacity and Mortality among Men Referred for Exercise Testing Strain, T., Dempsey, P. C., Brage, S., Wareham, N., et al. Quantifying the Relationship Between Physical Activity Energy Expenditure and Incident Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study of Device-Measured Activity in 90,096 Adults. Diabetes Care, 46(6), 1145–1155. (2023) Health Coach Q & AWhat links should I know about? Lark is here to help! Lark Customer Support! https://support.lark.com/hc/en-us/requests/new Facebook page for DPP https://www.facebook.com/groups/larkdpp Lark blog Lark recipes https://www.lark.com/resource-type/recipe Email a Lark coach with questions or to make an appointment https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=21319234 OUR next live webinarHydrate and Thrive: Why Water Is the Most Important Nutrient, and How You Can Get EnoughFebruary 18, 2026 12:30 PM |
