How UMED Tracks Weekly Physical Activity Level

This article explains what information UMED is using to track your weekly physical activity to ensure you are meeting the 150 minute exercise requirement when participating in one of our health and wellness programs.

Once you have synced your Polar device with your Polar Flow account, your activity will become available for viewing in your account by you and your 'Polar Coach' (UMED staff member). There are multiple ways to view your activity within Polar Flow. UMED uses the information displayed in your 'Activity Score' to calculate your weekly activity. This can be found by selecting Diary, selecting the Week option and then scrolling to the bottom of your screen and finding the Activity Score section. 

Your Activity Score has 5 icons that indicate 5 levels of intensity. These are as follows:

		Resting Sleep and rest, lying down
		Sitting Sitting and other passive behaviour
		Low Standing work, light household chores
		Medium Walking and other moderate activities
		High Jogging, running and other intense activities

UMED uses your weekly activity in the medium to high range (moderate to intense activity) to calculate your exercise for the week. These areas should add up to 150 minutes or greater to fulfill your exercise requirement.

Your Polar watch tracks activity by tracking your wrist movements and heart rate. The activity captured through these methods is then transformed into MET values, which is a measurement of energy expenditure expressed as multiples of the resting metabolic rate. Therefore, individuals of different weight who may complete the same activity will find that this activity is categorized as different intensities. There is no specific answer on how much exercise per week needs to be completed to reach your 150 minutes as this differs from person to person.

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